midair in Bay Area Nov 7

Guy Acheson wrote on 11/16/2020 7:19 PM:
OK...I am ready to get flamed.
I have flown with a PowerFlarm for several years.
False alarms. Searching frantically for aircraft that I just never see or do not exist.
Flying with a group, all with Flarm, and several do not show on my screen because they have carbon fuselages and antennas that are blocked.
Flying head to head with another Flarm aircraft and no display.
Having other pilots inform me that they saw my plane on their screens when I was not flying...multiple times!
The programing and configuration issues are just too much.
My system is updated and confirmed with and by experts.
But, most are not.
For me, it has not been a dependable, reliable, predictable piece of equipment.
My experiences in France have been much better.
My understanding is that those systems are overseen/verified/inspected by aircraft mechanics.
Here in the USA...the Flarm system mostly increases my anxiety and complicates my flying day.

It is unfortunate that your experience with Flarm is so poor. I have flown with Flarm for many
years and ...

-essentially no false alarms: there is always a glider there when I have an alarm.
-when flying in a "group" (which I think means gliders less than a mile away, going the same
direction and thermalling together) all the gliders always show on my Flarm. Most of them are
carbon gliders.
-Head to Head: the other glider always shows (my antennas are in the nose, so forward is the best)
-I programed it once and used it that way for years, still do
-I update it once a year, it's easy (I do have read the instructions each time)

I have no explanation for why our experiences are so different, but I think your experience is
extreme. Perhaps your installation is much of the problem, and it should be reviewed by a
different expert, even a pilot with experience using several systems.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

I agree that your installation may be suspect. You might try downloading some of your flights and running them through the Flarm Range Analysis tool. The results may point out where you have blind spots due to installation issues. If that doesn't help, an instrument evaluation by Richard at Craggy Aero might be an obvious next step. Your Config file may also have some of the range and altitude settings either too low, or possibly some features are not enabled. I had some problems early on, especially when using an early version of the Configuration tool. Richard looked at the file and set it up correctly. And the issues went away. Of course, some of the appearance/disappearance problems may be from the opposing glider's own installation inadequacies. Flarm has been a great addition to my cockpit, especially with the targets showing on the LX9000.

The first thing to do if you think you are not getting alerts that you should is to run your most recent flight log through the Flarm range analyser. I don't know if all varieties of Power Flarm do this but my LX Nav 9070 with integrated PF keeps a record somehow of previous flights' Flarm contacts so the most recent record gives the best diagram of the known coverage.


On Tuesday, 17 November 2020 at 13:46:18 UTC, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Guy Acheson wrote on 11/16/2020 7:19 PM:
OK...I am ready to get flamed.
I have flown with a PowerFlarm for several years.
False alarms. Searching frantically for aircraft that I just never see or do not exist.
Flying with a group, all with Flarm, and several do not show on my screen because they have carbon fuselages and antennas that are blocked.
Flying head to head with another Flarm aircraft and no display.
Having other pilots inform me that they saw my plane on their screens when I was not flying...multiple times!
The programing and configuration issues are just too much.
My system is updated and confirmed with and by experts.
But, most are not.
For me, it has not been a dependable, reliable, predictable piece of equipment.
My experiences in France have been much better.
My understanding is that those systems are overseen/verified/inspected by aircraft mechanics.
Here in the USA...the Flarm system mostly increases my anxiety and complicates my flying day.

It is unfortunate that your experience with Flarm is so poor. I have flown with Flarm for many
years and ...

-essentially no false alarms: there is always a glider there when I have an alarm.
-when flying in a "group" (which I think means gliders less than a mile away, going the same
direction and thermalling together) all the gliders always show on my Flarm. Most of them are
carbon gliders.
-Head to Head: the other glider always shows (my antennas are in the nose, so forward is the best)
-I programed it once and used it that way for years, still do
-I update it once a year, it's easy (I do have read the instructions each time)

I have no explanation for why our experiences are so different, but I think your experience is
extreme. Perhaps your installation is much of the problem, and it should be reviewed by a
different expert, even a pilot with experience using several systems.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

At 13:46 17 November 2020, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Guy Acheson wrote on 11/16/2020 7:19 PM:
OK...I am ready to get flamed.
I have flown with a PowerFlarm for several years.
False alarms. Searching frantically for aircraft that I just never see
or do not exist.
Flying with a group, all with Flarm, and several do not show on my
screen
because they have carbon fuselages and antennas that are blocked.
Flying head to head with another Flarm aircraft and no display.
Having other pilots inform me that they saw my plane on their screens
when I was not flying...multiple times!
The programing and configuration issues are just too much.
My system is updated and confirmed with and by experts.
But, most are not.
For me, it has not been a dependable, reliable, predictable piece of
equipment.
My experiences in France have been much better.
My understanding is that those systems are overseen/verified/inspected
by
aircraft mechanics.
Here in the USA...the Flarm system mostly increases my anxiety and
complicates my flying day.

It is unfortunate that your experience with Flarm is so poor. I have
flown
with Flarm for many
years and ...

-essentially no false alarms: there is always a glider there when I have
an
alarm.
-when flying in a "group" (which I think means gliders less than a mile
away, going the same
direction and thermalling together) all the gliders always show on my
Flarm. Most of them are
carbon gliders.
-Head to Head: the other glider always shows (my antennas are in the
nose,
so forward is the best)
-I programed it once and used it that way for years, still do
-I update it once a year, it's easy (I do have read the instructions each
time)

I have no explanation for why our experiences are so different, but I
think
your experience is
extreme. Perhaps your installation is much of the problem, and it should
be
reviewed by a
different expert, even a pilot with experience using several systems.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email
me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"

https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...oad-the-guide-
1

fwiw I agree 100% with Eric Greenwell's comment...and especially that
proper installation and checking performance is essential.