On Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at 8:07:11 AM UTC-6, Sean Fidler wrote:
Fantastic! Thanks for taking the time to share this video. As a US pilot, it is inspirational to see all the soaring that occurs in Europe each day and the phenomenal tracking resolution you have created. I wish we had this kind of vision and technology adoption over here.

Unfortunately, here in the USA, PowerFlarm has been (essentially) branded as meaningless for safety and some of our leaders openly argue that PowerFlarm is utilized primarily as a long range competition leeching tool. This is not supported by any facts or evidence yet they really, really want to burn the witch!

MONTY PYTHON - BURN THE WITCH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g

PowerFlarm is not mandatory (even in competition) in the US and therefore PowerFlarm has become almost useless as a safety device at our competitions (and at our popular soaring locals). By design I believe, it is rapidly dying. Several have actually uninstalled and sold their PowerFlarms. They are only $50 to rent…and our rental program is probably close to failing (if not failed already) due to the non-mandatory rule.

Oh, l almost forgot. Despite an actual US "vote" on PowerFlarm Stealth Mode being shot down (badly) twice, our leaders continue to openly encourage/allow/even promote Stealth Mode (even at our National competitions) even though the manufacturer strongly recommends against this in the product manuals (legal in our US Rules to run Stealth).

I would estimate that 50% of the PowerFlarms (maybe 60-70% adoption of the total number of competitors) most recent US Nationals were using Stealth Mode.

I think this is a very sad situation and that the Monty Python skit aptly describes the logic being used.

$50 is just not a financial obstacle for a pilot attending a national level contest.

#theworldisnotflat

Sean - please sit down, shut up, and let us enjoy this person's post and video without having to hear your lectures.

PowerFlarm was mandatory (NOT in stealth mode by the way) at the 3 US Nationals held last year in Nephi. You attended, and you know that was the case but you state publicly the opposite here. Is that dishonesty or selective memory? Please go troll some sailing forums.

Bruno - B4