POTENTIAL CONFLICT WHILE ON VISUAL APCH TO DFW.

Narrative

ON VISUAL APCH TO DFW CLRED TO 4000'. APCH CALLED TFC 11-10 O'CLOCK; SWBND; ALT UNKNOWN. BOTH PLTS SEARCHED FOR TFC. F/O SUDDENLY OBSERVED TFC IN CAPT'S BLIND SPOT AND INITIATED HARD RIGHT TURN TO AVOID MIDAIR. ACFT WAS OLDER SMT; ORANGE AT APPROX OUR ALT. THE PROB IS THE LOW ALT ARRS ASSIGNED TO COMMUTER TFC AT DFW. IF APCH WOULD UTILIZE A SYS SIMILAR TO ATL WITH HIGH ALT ARRS FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE TURBOPROPS; AIRLINE SAFETY COULD BE BETTER MAINTAINED. LOW ALT DEPS AND ARRS FOR TURBOPROPS; KEEPING TURBINES AT THE BASE OF OR BELOW THE TCA WITH LCL TRNING FLTS IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE PROC; IN MY OPINION. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: RPTR WAS ON THE BOIDS STAR AND HAD BEEN CLRED TO 4000'; WHICH IS RIGHT AT THE BASE OF THE TCA. HAD DISCUSSED THE PROB WITH CHIEF PLT BUT WAS ADVISED NOTHING COULD BE DONE. ALL ACFT OPERATING LEGALLY; STRICTLY SEE AND AVOID. HAS FOUND DEP CTLR ARE NOW CLRING DEPS TO A HIGHER ALT SOONER; VERSUS STAYING LOW FOR 40-50 MI AND FEELS THEY ARE BECOMING AWARE OF THE PERFORMANCE CAPABILITIES OF THE ACFT. IS GOING TO BRING IT UP TO THE CHIEF PLT AGAIN. ADVISED COULD GO THROUGH THE HOT LINE; BUT WAS RELUCTANT TO GO THAT ROUTE.