That post doesn't really prove anything: obviously, if you can see you're heading towards another aircraft and it's likely you'll collide, you'll take evasive a

That post doesn't really prove anything: obviously, if you can see you're heading towards another aircraft and it's likely you'll collide, you'll take evasive action irrespective of ATC control. I was talking more about deciding which flight level to use and general legal responsibility. Unless the F-16 pilot turned on his radar or could see other aircraft, how does he know exactly what other aircraft there are. Admittedly, ATC only generally knows squarked aircraft, but this is generally a good picture of what's happening, and will probably be more complete a picture than what the F-16 has access to under non-military conditions (AWACS, datalink, etc).