Mode S (again)
My engineer likes me to get the oil temperature in my old Lycoming up to speed once a week so despite the cold morning I pulled the plane out and had a very pleasant 30 minute local flight. I saw a Cherokee on the reciprocal course about a mile away and a 737 going in to Stansted in the far distance and that was it. I had the radio on to listen to Duxford's traffic but it was quiet so I switched it off again. All very safe and even the landing in a slight crosswind on to a wet grass runway went well.
Now the point is that this, I would guess, is typical of a lot of the private flying that went on this weekend. I'm not a Luddite but there was no need for a transponder (who would have given me a squawk?) and only a marginal requirement for a radio. Just what would Mode S have done to improve the shining hour? Not much. However rather than just complaining about it I would be happy to subscribe to AOPA, PFA (maybe), or GAPAN if somebody would tell me what they are doing to have this daft idea stopped. Anybody got an update?