On Jan 8, 12:33*pm, jcarlyle wrote:
Good rant! Some good points in there, too. But I'm not sure that it's
proper to assume that glider pilots with a "new toy" are going to mean
more problems.

I put in a transponder and took a lot of heat for being interested in
"gadgets". That talk stopped abruptly, and the number of transponders
in my circle of glider pilots went up, the evening a friend and I
landed with a tale about a Lear Jet who turned to avoid the two of us
while we were thermalling. The next subject of conversation was how
many new transponder equipped glider pilots saw commuter flights
noticing them, as evidenced by their turning a bit to stay clear of
the glider.

Flarm has a similar big role to play, in my opinion. Not only will it
let us gliders avoid one another, with its TIS (and soon to come TIS-
B) capability it will help us avoid the age old "doctor in the
Bonanza" who's staring at his panel.

I agree there are considerations for contests. I personally don't
think they're really big, given the European experience, but maybe us
Yanks really are 10x more competitive and will milk any bit of data to
win. Even so, I don't think it's proper to assume all new Flarm owners
will fly automatically be flying heads down. After all, Flarm is sort
of like an audio vario - if it beeps, look at it quickly to see why,
then look out again. Even us old geezers should be able to handle
that...

-John

On Jan 8, 11:09 am, hretting wrote:



Yes it would great if everyone had your experience and smarts with
implementing a , what, transponder?, are you kidding. You're comparing
a Flarm with a transponder. And of course you have TCAS in your glider
too! We're talking contest here, not a local jaunt around the area
that encounters a jet, which happens during all your flights, right?
And Mike, I never wrote that Flarm was a bad idea. Go back and read my
thread again. Brillant come back.
We're talking another distraction to the average racer that without
some planning and forethought, could lead to a chain of events not
desired.
The competition committee did good I believe in slowing things (Flarm)
down.
By the way, I have a transponder in my glider too.
R