Confessions of a Flarm Follower

In fact the same arguments used against Flarm (replaces pilot skill with technology) is at least as true of every other instrument in the panel. It is becoming increasingly clear that the detractors of Flarm are simply technophobes. If they believed what they said, they would also be advocating the banning of variometers, altimeters, GPS, compasses, laminar flow airfoils, etc. What are these after all, but attempts to apply technology to gain an advantage, and far more effective ones than Flarm? The really good pilots can fly without them.

you have one part of it wrong. no one is "afraid" of flarm. i wouldn't call detractors of flarm technophobes at all. most of those dudes (and ladies) have installed a TV screen front and center in their panel. i think labeling them as technophobes is a dismissive negative generalization that is viewed as hard to contest. well i'm contesting it. "oh... they're just technophobes, tsk tsk that won't do."

i don't agree with that at all. the truth is that they place a high value on the skill associated with keeping visual tabs on competitors, and that they also see that automating that cockpit task as negative.

you can't fault them for their opinion. it's theirs and they are entitled to it. i accept yours, regarding GPS, Vario, et cet. as a valid viewpoint.

the tactical advantage of flarm DOES come when everyone has it. but only when some start dicking with it by putting tin foil hats over the antennae. that's criminal if you ask me.

In fact the same arguments used against Flarm (replaces pilot skill with
technology) is at least as true of every other instrument in the panel.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the detractors of Flarm are simply
technophobes...

I wouldn't call detractors of flarm technophobes at all. Snip... I think
labeling them as technophobes is a dismissive negative generalization that
is viewed as hard to contest. well i'm contesting it. "oh... they're just
technophobes, tsk tsk that won't do."

I don't agree with that at all. the truth is that they place a high value
on the skill associated with keeping visual tabs on competitors, and that
they also see that automating that cockpit task as negative.

you can't fault them for their opinion. it's theirs and they are entitled
to it. i accept yours, regarding GPS, Vario, et cet. as a valid viewpoint.

The reply above beat me to the draw...

As someone with no dog in the contest-centric portion of this fight - but with
a genuine interest in listening to others' thoughts on "the whole FLARM
discussion," I 100% agree that the word "technophobe" in the claim, "It is
becoming increasingly clear that the detractors of Flarm are simply
technophobes..." can too easily be taken as a dismissive attempt to stifle
open discussion. I think we can do better.

By personal choice, I XC-soared for ~2 decades sans electrical system and
electric vario, many years of that without even a handheld radio.
Work-concurrently, I also spent some years developing and supporting
production processes for hard disk heads (which "fly" on individual molecules
of air; ever wonder why they're not spec-ed to work at high altitudes?) and
mass production of the ever-miniaturizing hard disk drives most of us use
without giving 'em a second thought...tooling tolerances in the low-singles of
4 non-metric decimal digits. Regardless of my choices of what technology to
use or not to use, a technophobe I am not. I suspect many others feel
generally similarly about their own technology choices.

Bob W.

P.S. I could've simply replied "B.S.!" as a form of shorthand to the
"technophobe" claim, but then shorthand is so easily mis-interpreted. :-)