Of course see and avoid is important. I've only been flying for about 18 months and there have been occasions in the open FIR where I've seen another aircraft and taken a significant course change to avoid. In one case it was an Apache at the same height as me who probably couldn't see me because I was coming out of the sun and even then passed pretty close. On top of that our circuit is sometimes invaded by military aircraft. See and aviod is important.
