wrote:

Frankly a lot of private pilots don't fully understand the difference
between talking to ATC and ATC providing traffic advisories and ATC
providing separation services.

Well, technically, you're talking to ATC both when they're providing
traffic advisories and when they're providing separation services.
Also, separation services are only for other IFR traffic so when you're
IFR, they're also giving traffic advisories on VFR traffic. But I see
how many private pilots may not realize that.

Well, if the first change doesn't do anything, then they'll just ask
for more rules, regulations, and restrictions. They'll rarely admit
that their original impulse was wrong-headed. The key is to get these
people involved in their local church, library, or art museum so they
channel their I-wanna-rule-the-world urges into something innocuous.

Are you talking about the general public or the politician that
Konitiki mentioned? The general public don't usually convert their
anti-aviation opinions to actions unless it affects them directly (like
the ones who live around airports). The ones we need to worry about are
the demagogue politicians. I don't think getting them involved in their
local churches and libraries would work. I WISH it was that easy to
distract Schumer and the other Democrat in New York Dick, I mean Weiner
(but think he's the former).

Marco