TCAS & stuff
"If you write about TCAS, there will always be somebody who will stupidly accuse you of flying with your head in the cockpit and not looking out"
......Yes, fair point and I'll apologise for making the inference that it could reduce your lookout. BUT I'll bet that there are others who DO think that technology removes the need to maintain a god lookout. More worringly is when they read it on a forum and so think it's a fact (rather tha tongue in cheek).
"As for gliders doing long trips and going to 20k feet, I would suggest that the glider population that does that is a tiny fraction of the total. Most gliders go around in the local area, and are relatively easy to spot because they are not on straight line trajectories."
....Cross-country glider sorties, as a percentage of total glider launches, probably is relatively small. However, on a nice thermic day, that still translates to well over a hundred movements operating between 500' - 7000', flying close to (or even in) cloud. All of whom are trying to minimise time spent circling and maximise time spent on track.
All I'm saying is that everybody nees to keep a good lookout and don't just assume that conflicting traffic will be where you're expecting it to be.