Let's pretend the perspective is true, that ATC has full responsibility for separation when the pilot is doing instrument training in visual conditions under radar contact.
Why delay doing exactly what you're told to do, twice?
1. Turn left if you don't have that traffic in sight, does not mean ask questions to confirm the distance, it means turn left if you don't have that traffic in sight. This delay is a minimum of 8 seconds difference in whether this accident happens.
2. Turn left immediately means do it now, not beginning to turn over 18 seconds... I've put a Cessna in a 60˚ 2G bank inside of 5 seconds many times (it is an unusual attitude, done for training purposes), and this guy is in a fighter jet. He can do better than that.
From this transcript, it's a much easier case proving negligence on the part of the F-16 pilot, than defending it. About the best defense the F-16 pilot I can come up with is that he probably had no chance to see and avoid because of the nose cone of the F-16 obstructing the view of the slightly lower Cessna; and the whole see and avoid principle is probably statistically bullcrap, and all flights should be under positive control. But unfortunately that's not the system we have, and I don't understand the cause for these two delays and the seemingly slow turn when the word "immediately" was used by ATC, which has a very explicit, formal meaning in ICAO terms which is when instant action is required by a pilot.
Why delay doing exactly what you're told to do, twice?
1. Turn left if you don't have that traffic in sight, does not mean ask questions to confirm the distance, it means turn left if you don't have that traffic in sight. This delay is a minimum of 8 seconds difference in whether this accident happens.
2. Turn left immediately means do it now, not beginning to turn over 18 seconds... I've put a Cessna in a 60˚ 2G bank inside of 5 seconds many times (it is an unusual attitude, done for training purposes), and this guy is in a fighter jet. He can do better than that.
From this transcript, it's a much easier case proving negligence on the part of the F-16 pilot, than defending it. About the best defense the F-16 pilot I can come up with is that he probably had no chance to see and avoid because of the nose cone of the F-16 obstructing the view of the slightly lower Cessna; and the whole see and avoid principle is probably statistically bullcrap, and all flights should be under positive control. But unfortunately that's not the system we have, and I don't understand the cause for these two delays and the seemingly slow turn when the word "immediately" was used by ATC, which has a very explicit, formal meaning in ICAO terms which is when instant action is required by a pilot.