These days, GPS makes it much worse. Around 20 years ago, a
mid-air collision happened up in your neck of the woods out in the
middle of nowhere, and we all learned about the dangers of precise
tracking between well-known GPS waypoints. The pilots in this case
were very precise in their altitude and tracking.
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Sometimes I wonder what would happen if everyone set their track on route one mile right of the popular one?
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That's exactly what we do in Oceanic Airspace - 1 or 2 miles right of Airway Centerline. Opposite direction traffic does the same so we have lateral separation and vertical separation. It's called SLOP (Strategic Lateral Offset Procedure).
Good explanation below.
I have seen the radio altimeter activate as aircraft pass [b]exactly [/b]below us. Navigation accuracy is measured in [b]metres [/b]using an Inertial system with GPS updating.