Ah, the all seeing radar has spotted it! I should of course have said with radio!!.
SAS,
If you tell me that you can see every aircraft around you when you are flying, then you are lying through your teeth
When flying in the circuit I do see every aircraft with the exception of those behind me.........that is how we avoid collisions.
There is no legal need to have a radio alot of the time and often it can be a pain, but to intimate that it is not a useful tool is daft. Listening out as well as looking out. Not difficult really is it...
Never said that radio is not a useful tool. In fact it is a very useful tool when properly used and as you say, Listening Out for appropriate position reports is an excellent way of improving one's situational awareness.
there always have been and always will be mid-airs especially in a busy environment. There is no way on earth that flying non-radio will cut the risk. It will almost certainly increase it
If the probability of mid-air collision increased with lack of radio then would it not be wise to say that the minimum visibility for operating non-radio should be more than the minimum visibility when one has a radio.........simlar to the fact that the risk of collision is greather above 140Kt than below and consequently the minimum visibility in class G changes?
I however would say that having a radio has absolutely no effect on the probability of collisions. All the radio does is to provide information that must be digested, understood, interpreted and if necessary acted upon along with all other aspects of situational awareness so that collisions are avoided.
The danger is that improper use of the radio can provide false information to the unwary thus disturbing their situational awareness and could possibly lead to a collision.
An example I believe being when one aircraft transmits "G-xx downwind one ahead"........and the aircraft following looks out expecting to see 2 aircraft and having spotted two aircraft assumes that all the traffic is in sight.
------------
Thanks to everyone for the comments - guess we won't be changing our procedures just yet and will continue to guide pilots on training flights that they should not try to announce how many they think are ahead.
Regards,
DFC