Is FLARM helpful?

On Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 8:24:19 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 10:31:47 AM UTC-5, John Cochrane wrote:
Has there been a single documented case of a pilot in us competition putting a tinfoil hat over flarm? Yes this has happened at worlds, where classes, assigned tasks and leeching are big. Let's not pass rules over imaginary problems.

Ps if you're a little worried about legal system mplications of stealth, those of the tinfoil hat are much larger

John cochrane bb

The answer is yes.
I won't out the individual.
It is known that this tactic is becoming more common in europe, including one world champion.
There are also other quite easy ways to kill the out signal while getting the in on antenna 2.
UH

UH,
This pilot has been banded from future sanctioned SSA events under 12.2.5.1 (unsafe operation) or 12.2.5.3(unsportsmanlike conduct) rules. Correct?
Craig

On Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 12:10:53 PM UTC-5, Craig Reinholt wrote:
On Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 8:24:19 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 10:31:47 AM UTC-5, John Cochrane wrote:
Has there been a single documented case of a pilot in us competition putting a tinfoil hat over flarm? Yes this has happened at worlds, where classes, assigned tasks and leeching are big. Let's not pass rules over imaginary problems.

Ps if you're a little worried about legal system mplications of stealth, those of the tinfoil hat are much larger

John cochrane bb

The answer is yes.
I won't out the individual.
It is known that this tactic is becoming more common in europe, including one world champion.
There are also other quite easy ways to kill the out signal while getting the in on antenna 2.
UH

UH,
This pilot has been banded from future sanctioned SSA events under 12.2.5.1 (unsafe operation) or 12.2.5.3(unsportsmanlike conduct) rules. Correct?
Craig

I'm doubtful that the person you refer to did this.
UH

On Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 9:10:53 AM UTC-8, Craig Reinholt wrote:
UH,
This pilot has been banded from future sanctioned SSA events under 12.2.5..1 (unsafe operation) or 12.2.5.3(unsportsmanlike conduct) rules. Correct?
Craig

The question is - is it enforceable? Flarm range is variable enough as it is - egregious use with other gliders in close proximity where range isn't an issue might be demonstrated.

Beyond the safety implications - I think it is of limited tactical use and I suspect pilots who expend energy on this are distracting themselves from more important issues of racing. Constantly looking over you shoulder is hardly a winning mindset. There's a lot of paranoia in racing about the effectiveness of leeching and tactics to escape leeching (specifically, 15% of pilots in the poll).

Maybe the foil hats should go on people's heads so they don't steal your thoughts? ;-)

9B

Another important consideration is the non-contest pilot. Perhaps someone flying out of a nearby airport will be in some of the same airspace as the contest pilots. These pilots flying with Flarm have purchased a Flarm with the expectation of more situational awareness. Now they encounter a mass of sailplanes flying with Farm limited by stealth mode. By mandating stealth you have essentially taken some of the situational awareness thus safety from a pilot that has not agreed to these conditions.

At 21:59 01 December 2015, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Another important consideration is the non-contest pilot. Perhaps
someone
=
flying out of a nearby airport will be in some of the same airspace as
the
=
contest pilots. These pilots flying with Flarm have purchased a Flarm
with=
the expectation of more situational awareness. Now they encounter a
mass
=
of sailplanes flying with Farm limited by stealth mode. By mandating
steal=
th you have essentially taken some of the situational awareness thus
safety=
from a pilot that has not agreed to these conditions.

Simply not true