Andy is exactly right. The big deal that is Flarm is not the
hardware and the radio signal mechanisms it is the algorithms and the
decision logic that is responding to the air interface. I would be
willing to bet that the Flarm folks have put 90% of their engineering
efforts on refining and perfecting the response logic as compared to
10% for all the rest of the design. In the US we are extremely
fortunate that this work has already been done. There has been years
of refinement effort that has been done specifically for soaring. An
ADS-B unit primarily designed for power planes (as they all are) will
not be satisfactory for glider - glider protection.

In my view, the new PowerFlarm unit is a brilliant solution to the
problem. It allows US pilots to piggy-back the tremendous amount of
effort expended to perfect Flarm in Europe. It provides the PCAS type
function to help protect against putt-putt traffic and it also
provides the ADS-B receive technology so that it can be used as a big
chunk of the ADS-B solution as that becomes more widely adopted in the
out years.

We must adopt PowerFlarm technology for the 2011 racing season in the
US. There is no chicken and egg problem when it is a requirement for
entry in all sanctioned contests. I plead for support from every
racing pilot on this. There was a midair at the last two contests
that I attended. There has also been a midair at the last two
contests that I attended at Uvalde. The crash at Uvlade last week
was highly disconcerting to me. Chris was a great guy. Even though
I was doing well in the contest, I just went home. I was intending
not to return to the sport ever again. If we can make racing safer
with rule and procedure changes and with immediate adoption of Power
Flarm, I hope that I will be able to change my mind.