See and be seen sounds fantastic, but in reality it's a very flawed method of traffic avoidance.
TCAS makes life an awful lot easier (and safer IMHO), but it does rely on people having transponders equipped and actually having them on.
There is often a reluctance in the PPL world to use the transponder in anything other than mode A. I cannot understand this at all, sticking on mode C makes sense.
Do people not like it because of a 'big brother' fear? They'll know my height and position etc....
I hope not, as it is a pretty crap argument for not trying to keep some order in the busy skies above europe.
I'm also fed up of TCAS showing traffic up, without any height indication. I know it's going to be a bug smasher far below, but it still means you have to check and that increases the workload ever so slightly. So stick Mode 'C' on to make it easier for us to sleep or drink coffee undisturbed as we trudge along the airways!
