Scared of mid-airs

Orval Fairbairn wrote:


The above posting is not correct. IFR planes have a unique box *only*
against other IFR traffic -- VFR traffic is not mentioned. That is why
you *have* to keep a lookout for traffic when you are under IFR.

An IFR may report a "near miss" when a VFR does not consider it to be a
threat. The "1000 above or below within 5 to 20 miles" applie only to
Class A airspace, *not* to B, C, D, etc.; else traffic flow would
trickle to a halt.

That's the way I understand it. My closest encounter ever was while IFR
in VMC. My instructor said, "I have the airplane", and we went into a
steep dive. I pulled off the hood to see a Cessna pass over that we
would have hit head on. We complained to ATC and they showed no
interest. I did some reading and came to the conclusion that their
primary job is to keep IFR traffic separated. If they have time, then
yeah, they can and should route you around a storm cell or some VFR
traffic but those tasks are not their primary mission.

I'm sure any errors and omissions in the above will be taken care of by
folks more knowledgeable than I am in this area.

Tom