Riddle me this, pilots

"Stan Gosnell" wrote in message
...
"Chip Jones" wrote in
:

long story snipped...

Given this traffic scenario, would any of you guys have followed my
suggestion to turn to a 180 heading, or was I wasting my breath?

I think I would have turned in the direction you gave, since I couldn't
see
the traffic & presumably you could, at least on radar. You have a much
bigger picture than I do. Either he misunderstood you or he's a lot more
arrogant than I like to think I am. If he knows he's faster than the
converging traffic, a turn away could work, but how could he know that?
OTOH, if you really, really want him to turn to a heading, give it as an
instruction, not a suggestion.


The only problem about issuing the 180 heading as an instruction instead of
a suggestion is that I do not have separation responsibility between an IFR
and a VFR in this class of airspace. Because of that, I have to follow the
7110.65's provisions regarding safety alerts and traffic alerts, and the
7110.65 requires me to make a suggestion instead of taking control with an
instruction in this case. In fact, the 7110.65 even instructs me to use the
phraseolgy "immediately" if I offer a suggested course of action. Hence, if
your best course of action was to hold your present heading, and I suggested
this to you, I would actually have to key up and say something as ridiculous
as "N123, traffic alert [insert appropriate information here], suggest you
fly your present heading immediately for traffic!" Silly, ain't it?

The logic is that during an alert, the FAA doesn't want ATC issuing
*instructions* to a controlled aircraft that might cause it to collide with
an uncontrolled aircraft. Say I instructed a 180 turn just as the unknown
VFR made a radical turn to the west to avoid ( know it's very very
unlikely). In such a collision, the ATC instruction would likely be
identified as the *cause* of the collision and as the controller I'd be hung
for not following the book. This was drilled into me a long long time ago
when as a young pup I assigned ATC vectors to a VFR aircraft in distress
(IFR pilot in VFR-only airplane stuck on top in winter clag looking for a
friendly airport). Eventually I vectored the pilot down into an airport
safely and then got reamed by facility management for not *suggesting* the
vectors instead of assigning them. My chewing for that event went something
like this- "Good job Chip. The pilot called to say thanks- he wants to buy
you a beer. HOWEVER, assign ATC headings contrary to the 7110 again, you
moron, and you will be decertified...you could have killed that guy."

Chip, ZTL




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