Status US PowerFLARM shipments

First, thank you for these updates as they go a long way towards
helping us understand the challenges involved and keeping the
customers in the loop.

Second, after flying with the PFLARM in Uvalde I have grown to
appreciate what a majority of the rest of the soaring world already
knew, FLARM works. There are times when the unit displays multiple
threats in a big tight gaggle but it mostly stays quite except when
there is a real potential of collision. After seeing the device in
action on several occasions during Uvalde I was impressed with the
accuracy of the threat detection.

On one day a PFLARM equipped glider had to take a relight and overflew
the 15/18 meter grid to land. You could hear the FLARM alerts starting
at the back of the grid rolling forward as the glider passed overhead.
The landing gliders FLARM never went off as a testimony to the threat
detection. He could have hit us but we could never have hit him.

I never thought I would be happy about adding a brick to my glider.

John Seaborn

Alpha Eight wrote:
First, thank you for these updates as they go a long way towards
helping us understand the challenges involved and keeping the
customers in the loop.

Second, after flying with the PFLARM in Uvalde I have grown to
appreciate what a majority of the rest of the soaring world already
knew, FLARM works. There are times when the unit displays multiple
threats in a big tight gaggle but it mostly stays quite except when
there is a real potential of collision. After seeing the device in
action on several occasions during Uvalde I was impressed with the
accuracy of the threat detection.

On one day a PFLARM equipped glider had to take a relight and overflew
the 15/18 meter grid to land. You could hear the FLARM alerts starting
at the back of the grid rolling forward as the glider passed overhead.
The landing gliders FLARM never went off as a testimony to the threat
detection. He could have hit us but we could never have hit him.

I never thought I would be happy about adding a brick to my glider.

John Seaborn




BTW the landing glider's PowerFLARM did not warn of threats as
stationary/on the ground FLARM/PowerFLARM units do not transmit signals.
I suspect this is done for many reasons including you do not want to
distract pilots when they are landing. Just another example of an all
round impressive system.

Darryl

On Aug 29, 8:48*am, Darryl Ramm wrote:
BTW the landing glider's PowerFLARM did not *warn of threats as
stationary/on the ground FLARM/PowerFLARM units do not transmit signals.
I suspect this is done for many reasons including you do not want to
distract pilots when they are landing. Just another example of an all
round impressive system.

Darryl

The aircraft on the ground actually do transmit a signal, but alarms
are being suppressed for landing gliders as it would distract the
pilot too much.
Urs

On Aug 29, 11:54*am, ursus wrote:
On Aug 29, 8:48*am, Darryl Ramm wrote:

BTW the landing glider's PowerFLARM did not *warn of threats as
stationary/on the ground FLARM/PowerFLARM units do not transmit signals..
I suspect this is done for many reasons including you do not want to
distract pilots when they are landing. Just another example of an all
round impressive system.

Darryl

The aircraft on the ground actually do transmit a signal, but alarms
are being suppressed for landing gliders as it would distract the
pilot too much.
Urs

Under what "landing" conditions are alarms suppressed? I'd certinly
like to be alerted to an opposite base head on with another glider or
a tug.

Andy wrote:
On Aug 29, 11:54 am, ursus wrote:
On Aug 29, 8:48 am, Darryl Ramm wrote:

BTW the landing glider's PowerFLARM did not warn of threats as
stationary/on the ground FLARM/PowerFLARM units do not transmit
signals.
I suspect this is done for many reasons including you do not want
to
distract pilots when they are landing. Just another example of an
all
round impressive system.

Darryl

The aircraft on the ground actually do transmit a signal, but alarms
are being suppressed for landing gliders as it would distract the
pilot too much.
Urs

Under what "landing" conditions are alarms suppressed? I'd certinly
like to be alerted to an opposite base head on with another glider or
a tug.


They are suppressed if the other glider is on the ground. Don't know the
exact details of what counts as on the ground. I've had similar
comments from folks at other busy fields how well this works and Urs
explained it to me at a seminar, and I still got it backward. Sorry.
Sigh.

Darryl

On Aug 29, 7:09*pm, Darryl Ramm wrote:
Andy wrote:
On Aug 29, 11:54 am, ursus wrote:
On Aug 29, 8:48 am, Darryl Ramm wrote:

BTW the landing glider's PowerFLARM did not *warn of threats as
stationary/on the ground FLARM/PowerFLARM units do not transmit
signals.
I suspect this is done for many reasons including you do not want
to
distract pilots when they are landing. Just another example of an
all
round impressive system.

Darryl

The aircraft on the ground actually do transmit a signal, but alarms
are being suppressed for landing gliders as it would distract the
pilot too much.
Urs

Under what "landing" conditions are alarms suppressed? *I'd certinly
like to be alerted to an opposite base head on with another glider or
a tug.

They are suppressed if the other glider is on the ground. Don't know the
exact details of what counts as on the ground. *I've had similar
comments from folks at other busy fields how well this works and Urs
explained it to me at a seminar, and I still got it backward. Sorry.
Sigh.

Darryl

Sounds like it can tell whether the target is moving or not. The ships
on the ground are probably indicating speed = zero in the flarm radio
packets. If that's the case, this device is not meant for
helicopters. )

On 8/29/2011 7:26 PM, Westbender wrote:
On Aug 29, 7:09 pm, Darryl wrote:
wrote:
On Aug 29, 11:54 am, wrote:
On Aug 29, 8:48 am, Darryl wrote:

BTW the landing glider's PowerFLARM did not warn of threats as
stationary/on the ground FLARM/PowerFLARM units do not transmit
signals.
I suspect this is done for many reasons including you do not want
to
distract pilots when they are landing. Just another example of an
all
round impressive system.

Darryl

The aircraft on the ground actually do transmit a signal, but alarms
are being suppressed for landing gliders as it would distract the
pilot too much.
Urs

Under what "landing" conditions are alarms suppressed? I'd certinly
like to be alerted to an opposite base head on with another glider or
a tug.

They are suppressed if the other glider is on the ground. Don't know the
exact details of what counts as on the ground. I've had similar
comments from folks at other busy fields how well this works and Urs
explained it to me at a seminar, and I still got it backward. Sorry.
Sigh.

Darryl

Sounds like it can tell whether the target is moving or not. The ships
on the ground are probably indicating speed = zero in the flarm radio
packets. If that's the case, this device is not meant for
helicopters. )
That's an interesting question. A couple of years ago I almost had a
midair with a helicopter that was hoovering 5' off the ground at the
arrival end of the runway. Never saw him until we turned base and were
committed to landing.

If the helicopter were FLARM equipped, would he have shown up as an
alarm? Would he show up as a target on a display with a FLARM
interface, so we could have seen him before we entered the pattern (even
more important that generating an alarm at the last moment)?

--
Mike Schumann