Airproxs down

[BigEndBob]

I read somewhere in a safety mag. that UK airproxs are down last year, is this due to better lookout or just less flying being done.
I now work in an area that was frequently used as a reporting point for aerodrome joining aircraft, now i hardly see or hear light aircraft. Are things that bad in aviation?

[Sensible]

Or maybe apathy! Who wants to volunteer to do a weeks worth of paperwork?

[FlyingForFun]

Maybe people are becoming more aware of the congested areas, and staying away from them? I know lots of people who try to never fly directly overhead a VOR, for example.

FFF
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[idle stop]

...or maybe they're happening but nobody has noticed, thus they haven't been reported.
Complacency Lures, as Marx once said.

[BigEndBob]

Also i now see it is a requirement to report all bird strikes. Why?
If its a major problem at an airfield i would have thought that it had been long dealt with. Perhaps the airprox staff have nothing to do. When they collect and collate the info. and discover most bird strikes happen on take off and landing they will be recommending we all take off and land with landing lights on.
Give it twelve months this will be a JAR question in the Air Law exam!

I would prefer more direct investigation into more important things. Some years ago i had an exhaust valve failure, ended up PFL into a field. Looked through some safety bulletins to see how common the occurance. I was supprised how common it was.
It was a well known problem. Does that still exist?.