Avoid head-on collision? Forward facing LED strobe?

At 11:28 25 July 2012, Kimmo Hytoenen wrote:
At 10:11 25 July 2012, Michael Clarke wrote:
At 08:14 25 July 2012, Kimmo Hytoenen wrote:
FLARM tells you that there is another glider. It does not
really
tell you where it is - you need to look and find it. Week ago I
got
FLARM warning, without seeing the another plane.

Kimmo,

It does if you have the right equipment and set it up properly.
LX8000 /
9000 with voice shows you and tells you where the other glider
is.

Link your Flarm to any navigation display, for example LK8000,
you can
maintain awareness of other gliders and will have a vey good
idea where to
look if a glider triggers a warning. This works very much better
than the
standard Flarm display, and IMO better than the various Flarm
analogue
displays (though I have one fitted as belt and braces).

Mike



I agree Mike. Therefore I was involved in development of
Soartronic devices, to make FLARM / PDA connections easy &
low cost. Voice warning might be a good idea, but transferring
information takes time?
FLARM systems seem to have blind points. I would like to have a
system, that helps maintaining awareness of nearby planes,
even when FLARM signal is temporally lost. LK8000 seems to
have some fresh ideas.



Flarm blind spots are mostly about the aerial placement: you will not see
anyone directly below or above due to signals not going through fuselage.
It works well on the head on case. With the above/below blindspot you would
have been alerted earlier as the other glider approached out of blindspot.
They are not perfect and need to be used along with good lookout. With
Flarm you get a directed lookout which is very effective.
Mandatory Flarm in comps and preferably in all gliders/tugs is a small
price to pay for the increased safety, but : YOU STILL NEED TO LOOK OUT!
Tom