Kev writes:

Still, maybe it's a non-issue, since we don't seem to hear of lots of
collisions around VORs. Seems like mid-airs are mostly around
airports. Anyone know the real stats of locations offhand?

It's probably just a question of numbers. It's much less likely that two
aircraft will pass over the same VOR at the same moment and the same altitude
than it is that two aircraft will aim for the same runway at the same time
from the same direction.

If traffic is precisely paced along airways, that could increase the risk, by
creating dangerous periods during which multiple aircraft might arrive at the
same spot at the same time.

Precise traffic control increases safety to the extent that you can control
and determine the exact position of all aircraft at the same time, but it also
diminishes safety to the extent that you _cannot_ do these things.

This implies that there's no one-size-fits-all for aviation traffic control
methods, which perhaps has significant implications for the industry, given
the periodic transition towards ever more accurate navigation methods
(unfortunately without a concomitant transition towards more accurate and
reliable anti-collision technologies).

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