ShyTorque
I hope you were joking, but just in case you were serious;
“It enables those in receipt of a radar service in Class G”
I am a “fun flyer” I fly almost exclusively at the weekend. At the weekend almost all LARS is closed, and the ones that are open have no capacity to give me a RIS (I am VFR only remember in a permit aircraft). This benefit is effectively non-existent.
“or those using an ACAS system to avoid you”
I fly an LAA aircraft into strips and small licensed airfields (all over the UK plus some of Europe). The chances of me colliding with an airliner are billions to one (I stay clear of ILS’s etc). The fractions of 1% of the traffic I am likely to hit that have ACAS are probably flying IFR. Likelihood of collision billions to one.
My risk of a mid air is with other traffic at low level. I fly from a strip so the first 1500 ft up and down is the big risk. 80% of local traffic (I did some research) is not transponder equipped and not likely to be (busy gliding site, lots of micros and LAA with some GA mixed in). My only chance of avoiding them is to use my 1700 fpm RofC and the exceptional visibility of my aircraft, combined with a clearing turn at 500ft and keep the canopy spotless. I take this risk very seriously as the previous mid air involved an aircraft taking off from my strip, at 1400 ft agl.
The only technical tool which might improve things is FLARM. Because it was designed for gilders, it is light and can be portable. Almost all of the machines, which cannot fit a transponder, could fit it and it gives the user (the person paying) a benefit. If it starts to gain critical mass in the UK I will fit it.
To be fair, I get two benefits from my mode C transponder. I can get attention if I have a serious problem, and I am allowed in French class D (legally).
This does not stop me keeping it switched on and adjusted, but if it failed I would probably not bother replacing it. If it were possible to get a RIS more than one a year, I would agree it would be worthwhile, but I see no sign of this ever happening.
Rod1