I surely have. More often than not, when I hear someone alerted to traffic, the response on the radio is "Got 'em on TCAS." Not "Traffic in sight."
Do you think that means the crew aren't looking for the traffic? I very much doubt it.
And they will "Get 'em on TCAS" before visually aquiring it, that's the whole point of the equipment, as an aid to lookout....
The equipment fitted to the aircraft I fly for a living works out to 20 miles. There is no way that the human eye will see other traffic at that range, no matter what the owner of the eye might claim and pre-warned is pre-pared.
Next time you ask for a radar information service, why not ask ATC to delay telling you about other traffic until just after you've seen it; perhaps giving you a heads up in good time is not sporting enough?
