El martes, 1 de mayo de 2018, 23:47:21 (UTC-3), Tango Eight escribió:
Just back from a long weekend at Mifflin...

We had a glider land at the big field near the South end of Raystown ridge Sunday about 1930 local (30 minutes before sunset). His was the last glider flying, no one heard his landing call on 123.3. There is no cell coverage and no available land line phone for several miles around this remote field. At sunset, we noticed we were short one glider. We found the pilot by consulting his spot page, noted multiple pings in same location and an "Okay" msg. Access to this field is difficult, includes a locked gate, so authorities were involved. They got the pilot out late evening, glider recovered on Monday. Despite our assurances that the pilot was okay, the cav was sent complete with fire and emergency medical support.

Coincidentally, this pilot and I were discussing our lack of satisfaction with Spot the evening before. Both of us planned not to renew our subscriptions.

This incident underscores the obvious problems with cell tracking, PLBs (only communicates with .gov functionaries, provides no data, only a non-specific call for emergency help), Spot (one way comm without confirmation, only sends canned msgs to pre-arranged email and txt via email, many potential points of failure, toy like reliability). Inreach might be better? Perhaps. If your device hasn't been bricked by a software "update".

It's probable in this specific incident that we'd have figured things out (albeit with significant uncertainty) from a cell based tracking device. I expect the flight track, time of day and lack of other communication would have made the Raystown field the first place we'd look, but having a firm location and okay msg was pretty huge here. I'm not rethinking any of my misgivings about Spot, but in this specific instance it was a big help.

best regards,
Evan Ludeman / T8

Hi Evan,

We fly in a VERY remote area, central Chilean Andes and coast mtns, mostly covered by fields that you don't want to land, ... at least in my club, the use of SPOT is mandatory for XC flights. Club gliders have their own assigned SPOT, they have standarized messages for each button which are written on every glider's checklist in case of use, and their track is shown in the same webpage.

I agree that SPOT is not reliable at all (mostly during constant tracking), but sometimes we have absolutely no cel coverage, so it's a very good option. Just carry spare batteries ALWAYS, and make sure that the device is facing up to the clear sky while sending the message. If you're looking for a tracking system, probably FLARM, Mode S TPDR, or a cellphone based system would be better, IF YOU HAVE COVERAGE.

At least my opinion is that SPOT implementation in our club has been a success. Every outlanded glider for the last years has been spotted and supported inmediately, regardless cel coverage. Although, thanks god we haven't used the SOS button yet.

Francisco
Club de Planeadores de ValparaÃ*so