coming from behind a guy, tracers or not tracers he should be dead. if he isnt your aim is bad. it has nothing to do with tracers on or off.
anyway if you have your sounds set up right, not only can you hear the other plane's engine as he's closer to you, but you should also hear the guns shooting. but there's no reason why you should get killed from behind, unless you have bad sa. tracers or not tracers have nothing to do with you getting killed, it's the bad sa that got you.
as for tracers themselves, there's not way to say one way or the other is better. it's like flying a plane, some do good in ponies some do good in 109's. nothing wrong with either one. it's what you do with it, that matters.
it's silly to argue otherwise.
semp