Thank you all for your coments.
To put my post into perspective I am refering to flight in the south of the country where oper FIR is pretty limited and usually very crowded.
gasax - I see you're in Aderdeen...I've flown up there a few times and know that talking about collision risk in the FIR must seem very alien to you.....and rightly so.....if only all of the country was as blissfully deserted as most of the scottish FIR.
"The vast majority of 'near hits' occur in controlled traffic environments"
I'm afraid your above comment is completly untrue........as far as GA is concerned the most collisions/near hits occur in the circuit of uncontrolled airfields...(FISO, A/G radio are not controlled environments)
Its true to say collision risk is low......I only posted to highlight the complete disregard some pilots give to reducing collision risk ......I'm talking about guys who hire well equipped club aircraft and don't bother to turn the transponder on. I'm not referring to privately owned aircraft not equipped with transponders...its an expensive bit of equiptment.
Monocock - You attitude to flight safely is astounding........and frankly frightening. I'm not going to waste my time addressing your inane rantings.
However with an attitude like that I'm sure it won't be long before I get to read your autobiography entitled "AAIB bulliten 08/2007"
"Some of us fly for the sheer fun of it"
Don't we all?