In article ,
john smith wrote:
How often do you spot traffic without guidance from ATC when you are out
flying?

Fairly often, but I don't know how many I missed, obviously.

I've had three near collisions, all away from airports, and two
requiring evasive action. I've had close calls in the pattern when
position reports where horribly wrong, but all of those were resolved
before they got too close for comfort.

The first near collision was at 10,500ft. A bizjet crossed 90degrees
to my path so fast that I didn't have time to react. Range was
less then half a mile. I don't think the bizjet crew even saw me.

The second was at 6,500ft. A Bonanza was off the left side,
90degrees to my path, and wasn't moving in the window. I turned
a few degrees to the left to get off the collision course, and
passed behind the Bo. We got a little bump from the Bonanza's wake
turbulence.

The third was down low, heading eastbound through the pass between
Half Moon Bay and Crystal Springs under the SFO Class B. A Bonanza
was heading westbound on a reciprocal heading at my altitude. With
a closing speed of ~250kts, the Bonanza 'appeared' out of nowhere.
I had to yank hard to avoid the collision.

How often do you spot traffic called out to you by ATC?

For traffic at 5miles, I spot the traffic ~50% of the time. Alot
of times, I get 'traffic no factor' before I can find it. Small
stuff like us is hard to spot, unfortunately.

All of the above occurred during daylight, clear VFR.

Ditto.

See and avoid works pretty well in the pattern, where the close
traffic (1/2mile away) is moving in basically the same direction
as you. Unless someone is flying the opposite pattern or doing
other unfriendly behaviors, the closing rate should be low enough
to see the traffic. And yes, I know most midairs happen at airports,
but I think that is more a factor of the fact that airports attract
lots of airplanes.

Away from an airport, traffic can be moving in any random direction.
Head on, even two spam cans can have a frighteningly high closing
speed. In my head on encounter with the Bonanza, I was a second
away from a fireball.

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/