There are 17 in S.A , most of them at Gawler. Nigel
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Lawley Sent: Wednesday, 8 November 2006 2:32 PM To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: RE: [Aus-soaring] GPS units - opinions please... "once you have 2 gliders with FLARM" Agreed Scott, however here in SA there are very few FLARMS I know of (in fact none: Waikerie, AUGC and Balaklava do not have them, not sure about others) and WGC has not decided to buy any as yet. Not much point in being the only glider in the state to have one eh? Hence my statement! I guess it varies from state to state, so what applies here may not be the case elsewhere, something I should perhaps have mentioned. There may be a point that most gliders have them, they then will become very useful If FLARM were to have an IGC approved logger it would really make it very worthwhile to buy though-is this possible? To avoid any confusion I do think FLARM is a great idea, and would like to see all gliders have them, however until they do it will be the glider without one that will get you if you don't continue to keep a good lookout! Regards Dave L -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Scott Penrose Sent: Wednesday, 8 November 2006 1:35 PM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] GPS units - opinions please... Some excellent advice here David, except: On 08/11/2006, at 13:11, David Lawley wrote: > A flarm alone will blow your budget, without PDA etc, and is next > to useless > for collision avoidance unless ALL other gliders have one. They are > easily > fitted with Velcro to the top of instrument panels if a temporary > setup in a > club ship is required (Plenty of this happened at the Gawler Nats last > year), needing only a 12 volt supply to function. Just statistically, once you have 2 gliders with FLARM, every extra one reduces collision risk. It is quite incorrect to say that all gliders need one to be useful. I flew this weekend in Raywood with 20 to 30 gliders. I have no idea how many had FLARM, I would guess less than 10 - and it was very successful at picking up and warning of gliders approaching that also had a FLARM - even in that very limited sense, with less than a 1/3 coverage I was getting useful and extra protection that enhanced my lookout - and not inconsiderably. Beyond just the statistics, and the extreme view that it would be useless unless ALL were fitted is the fact that all aircraft will never be fitted with the same system (well not never, but not in the next 10, probably 20 years) - e.g. Light aircraft, ultralights, balloons - so even if all gliders were fitted (and bring them on - they are an excellent addition) - you still must have lookout, and it will not be total protection, just bonus extra. Gliding Club of Victoria has now joined the ranks of other clubs to fit out the entire fleet - including tugs. Scott _______________________________________________ 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
