I fly in ESF a lot, and whenever I Q-Spot, I draw heavy fire. Please remove auto-spot on players in Vehicles when they Q-Spot. I understand that Infantry Q-Spotting thematically is a player yelling (as opposed to talking on a mic), and so it gives their position away. But players inside non-open air vehicles wouldn't be making any sound that someone outside would hear. It doesn't make sense that a Q-Spotting Vehicle would light up like a Christmas Tree.
It doesn't make sense for infantry ether since it is the future and all the soldiers have headsets and don't need to yell and give themselves away. It a game mechanic it doesn't really have to make sense.
spotting somebody doesn't spot you in return, unless they have the counter-intelligence implant I guess (haven't used that one myself, not sure precisely how it works.) it's more likely that you're popping up on proximity radar, or somebody heard you and looked up
Perhaps, it's more like they are spotting you as well... you are, after all, in a big flying metal thing. It's pretty easy to spot by anyone on the ground; I always, always, always spot aircraft, even if I'm infantry... just so that the guys playing AA will know exactly where you are.
There's your problem. Groundpounders prioritize ESFs, and you don't even have to be spotted to show up on minimaps within a certain range when you're in a vehicle unless it's certed for stealth. And as others have said, you'll only be automatically counter-spotted if someone has the Counter-Intelligence implant running.
Weird thing is if I don't Q-Spot, then I don't draw fire very quickly, and when I do it's just a few enemies. But when I DO Q-Spot, I suddenly draw tons of fire from everyone I spotted. It's a very noticeable difference. I don't have someone to test it with, but I'd be surprised if it didn't auto-spot me on the map. Now I don't even bother with Q-Spotting if I don't want to draw fire, and that seems to work. But it seems pretty lame that Q-Spotting is so adversely affecting when used. I run my ESF with full Stealth.
You have to remember that Little Timmy the light assault can see your ESF from 3 bases away and you have to get much close to even render, let alone spot Little Timmy. So it is very likely that you had been spotted then simply flew into firing range.