See the following from Bob Henderson re the use of Flarm and other anti collision devices in contests.
Note his words about this being a "significant benefit to flight safety.I hope that the GFA sees such devices in the same light and provides leadership to encourage their use in Australia.
President's Letter
to
Delegates
and
Committee Chairmen
24th July 2005
ANTI COLLISION DEVICES IN IGC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Dear Friends
In 2004 the anti-collision system FLARM was introduced to the IGC at
our Plenary meeting in Lausanne. It is now in extensive use in Europe and is
also used elsewhere in the world.
The IGC endorsed the use of such technology as providing a significant
benefit to flight safety.
In April 2005 the gliding board of the German Aero Club endorsed the
use of FLARM in soaring competitions and championships.
In May 2005 Aerokurier published a comment about FLARM:
"The Swiss collision avoidance system for gliding, FLARM, cannot be
used in international gliding competitions. The exclusion is purely a
formality. The FAI competition regulations forbid the exchange of data
during competitions, but FLARM relies on extensive exchanges of data in
order to work." (Translation courtesy of Fred Weinholtz).
This opinion was picked up by at least one other gliding magazine, the
Gliding Kiwi in the June/ July 2005 issue:
"FAI has ruled that Flarm (sic), the Swiss collision avoidance system
cannot be used in international gliding competitions. FAI competition
regulations forbid the exchange of data during competitions. FLARM relies on
extensive exchanges of data in order to work. Common sense will prevail on
this issue for sure."
I do not know if other gliding magazines and publications have picked
up this erroneous opinion, but the time has come to end this speculation.
Fact: FLARM uses a comparison of electronic data between aircraft to
determine if a collision risk exists (no collision risk equals no warning).
Fact FLARM only provides relative position information for the
aircraft creating the risk (position in a 360 degree circle).
Fact: FLARM is very short-range.
Fact: FLARM does not provide relative position information if there is
no collision risk (so it cannot be used to leech!)
The relevant Annex A Rule currently states:
5.3.1 Radio Transmitters and Transceivers Radios are for voice
transmissions between team members and between them and the Organisers only.
b. Any other data transmission between competitors, or between them
and the ground, except as required by the Organisers, is prohibited.
This Rule was written to stop the transfer of data - such as from GNSS
units that would provide information about air mass and rates of climb,
etc - especially when gliders were out of sight of each other. It was never
intended to void flight safety.
The existing Annex A wording competition permits organisers to require
all gliders to carry FLARM, for example, as a means of reducing the risk of
mid-air collisions.
We have had a number of debates in the last few years about how to
minimise the mid-air collision risk in competitions. As a result, I find it
extremely frustrating that interpretations have been placed on a sound and
workable Rule in this way without seeking advice or clarification from the
Bureau.
I would be very concerned if I thought that someone might lodge a
protest about the carriage of a device such as FLARM during a contest.
As a result of this situation the Bureau is making an immediate
amendment to this Rule so that it will now read:
5.3.1b "Any other data transmission between competitors, or between
them and the ground, except as required: (i) by the organisers; or (ii) for
safety purpose or; (iii) for anticollision warning, is prohibited"
I have received an email that suggests that this is just a "storm in a
teacup", but this action is, I believe, necessary to make the Bureau's
intentions absolutely clear.
This does not, however, help us in our aim of making the Rules
simpler.
Enjoy your flying and keep a good lookout!
Bob Henderson
President, IGC
July 24th, 2005
----- Original Message -----
From: "Geoff Kidd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 8:14 AM Subject: Re: Fw: [Aus-soaring] FLARM
Marcel Duenner from Switzerland has provided the following to the Flarm thread on The Glider Forum. He is right ..... & I've asked him for some more information .................................Regards Geoff From MD QUOTE .....The strong take-up in Europe is not just promotional talk - it's a fact. One reason is: FLARM works very well! The other main reason is certainly the high number of collisions happening around here so the risk is conceived as such. I'm quite sure everyone in central Europe, not only in the alps, has had close encounters. Some noticed, some probably didn't. Even in regions with generally less dense traffic I think FLARM is worth thinking of. Near airports you always have several gliders and/or tugs close together. And you also hold comps there, don't you? One other thing: If everybody waits for everyone else to have one - it's never going to happen. Get together and start by equipping as many gliders as possible in your region, at your gliderport...... UNQUOTE----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Boulter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>To: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 9:04 AM Subject: Re: Fw: [Aus-soaring] FLARMAttached is an snapshot from Sailplane and Gliding on FLARM. The install base is higher according to this. /daveb Graeme Cant wrote:From: "Geoff Kidd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I haven't bought one (yet) as they are just nose ballast unless a reasonable proportion of others have them.Bernard's point is correct. If there aren't a good number fitted they will not help. But I still say that the GFA should consider taking a leadership role to progress this vital safety issueWell, I think this is hardly "vital" since we're all happily going to go back to flying without FLARM or ADSB or TCAS this weekend and next and next month and in fact the whole next season after we've all beaten our gums about this for a week or so - and the odds are that no collision will take place becasue the sky in Oz is REALLY, REALLY BIG. I'm also philosophically against it. Australian gliding has a long record of relying on some official institution to make us do things "for our own good". I don't like it much. If it's worth doing, it's worth clubs and club members deciding to do it for themselves. Over time, the major collision risk has to be in and near the circuit/training areas of fairly busy clubs. DDSC, ASC, Bacchus Marsh and so on. It might be a good starting point to see if any of those clubs think it worth the cost of fitting their training fleets with FLARM. If they do and it's seen as valuable, a lot of their private owners will follow. FLARM's website says it has sold 450 of them. The threat in the Alps is so obvious that it seems no official encouragement was needed to sell them and certainly no compulsion. The first buyers, I gather, were simply groups of club members and clubs themselves fitting them to their fleet.... as indeed the NZ Association appears to be doing from John Roake's email.Hmmm. Maybe. Since all gliders in NZ already have transponders, I think it's unlikely - but you never know.Or a group of like minded pilots should just band together and go for it ... maybe on a package price if such a thing is available.That's more like it. I'll be in it. Graeme CantGeoff ----- Original Message ----- From: "Graeme Cant" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 10:20 PM Subject: Re: Fw: [Aus-soaring] FLARM>From: "Geoff Kidd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>I made a short movie to show how the new FLARM display works : http://depechy.free.fr/flarm/FLARM_Rennes_050527.wmv GeoffGeoff, How much did your new FLARM uniit cost you and when are you taking delivery? Graeme Cant _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
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