GliderLink - New team soaring app for airborne location sharing

In Europe and it would appear in many parts of the US most cross country gliders are flying with Flarm.

To improve safety we want as many people as possible to use Flarm.

While this is cheaper and has longer range, I worry that it may discourage some from biting the bullet and getting Flarm. And personally I wouldn't want to carry an additional traffic display (I get Flarm contacts on a Butterfly display and an LX 9000).

If you can (legally and for free) send data at any bandwith between ground station and glider, this is just amazing. I do not see problem with competing technologies, they just drive prices down and at some point everything will be integrated (like flarm and transponder targets on current generation collision avoidance systems).

On Friday, April 27, 2018 at 5:11:43 AM UTC-4, waremark wrote:
In Europe and it would appear in many parts of the US most cross country gliders are flying with Flarm.

To improve safety we want as many people as possible to use Flarm.

While this is cheaper and has longer range, I worry that it may discourage some from biting the bullet and getting Flarm. And personally I wouldn't want to carry an additional traffic display (I get Flarm contacts on a Butterfly display and an LX 9000).

Progress isn't going to stop to cover the emotional cost of spent money on old tech. Flarm will be done in by something app based soon enough. The last guy to buy a barograph didn't care for GPS scoring.

Integrating this into XCSoar is the most viable and valuable way to get widespread adoption of this solution. I really like the goTenna mesh concept, but I thought the Skylines interface with XCSoar was supposed to do the same inflight buddy-watch function down the road via cellular data.

The mesh network concept is intriguing, but with unlimited data plans on our phones in South Florida, it would only be more advantageous than Skylines at low altitudes over remote areas.

Interesting possibilities, though. Imagine synced mesh network integration with Skylines to improve coverage.

Paul A.

On Friday, April 27, 2018 at 4:11:43 AM UTC-5, waremark wrote:
In Europe and it would appear in many parts of the US most cross country gliders are flying with Flarm.

To improve safety we want as many people as possible to use Flarm.

While this is cheaper and has longer range, I worry that it may discourage some from biting the bullet and getting Flarm. And personally I wouldn't want to carry an additional traffic display (I get Flarm contacts on a Butterfly display and an LX 9000).

Except the highest traffic density is often local training gliders near the glider field - and towplanes. Good luck getting Flarm into 2-33s and L-23s in the US! At our club field, with 8 club gliders, 13 private gliders, and 3 towplanes, only 4 of the private ships have Flarm. Some of the training gliders don't even have radios! And yes, we have had at least two glider/towplane incidents (no one hurt, fortunately) that could have been avoided with this kind of technology. So to me, this could be an absolute no brainer.

"Flarm is stupid anyway. We've had technically advanced airplanes fly into each other, TV traffic is a feelgood charm for sissies. Example of how your electronics won't save you.
https://www.youtube.com/wat"

This is an asinine post from an asinine know-it-all that knows nothing about Flarm and the definite benefits it provides. I had at least three warnings last year in situations that would have likely resulted in a collision: two in thermals and one in a head-on high speed closure that was avoided by the fact that the other pilot and I both had Flarm and paid attention to it.. I also had a few close calls with non-Flarm equipped pilots, and I had no idea they were there (and neither did they).

And your stupid YouTube video link shows absolutely nothing relating to a soaring environment. You may be happily distracted by repetitive and confusing environments as demonstrated in this simplistic and overly contrived perception test, but the aviation world I live in encourages the observation of constantly changing situations. I welcome the addition of Flarm in my cockpit, as it gives me an additional awareness of my situation and the pilots who also choose to use it.

For pilots like you, with a clear view of their colon and nothing else. I would prefer that you pick another thermal. And quit turning in the opposite direction.

Flarm helps. No doubt about it. 80% of the serious XC pilots in Moriarty use Flarm. We still like looking out the window, but a bit of advance warning is a nice thing.

If you think Flarm is "STUPID," pull your head out, become prescient, invent time travel or don't fly. Obviously you are better qualified and have superior situational awareness than all the mortals that infest your airspace.

That was a joke.

You didn't see the Gorilla. Just because it is on TV or beeping on our panel doesn't mean our monkey brains are going to see it. Flarm users reporting multiple saves from midairs every season doesn't add up. Pre Flarm(at higher #s of active pilots) there weren't that many collisions.
On Friday, April 27, 2018 at 10:57:19 PM UTC-4, wrote:
"Flarm is stupid anyway. We've had technically advanced airplanes fly into each other, TV traffic is a feelgood charm for sissies. Example of how your electronics won't save you.
https://www.youtube.com/wat"

This is an asinine post from an asinine know-it-all that knows nothing about Flarm and the definite benefits it provides. I had at least three warnings last year in situations that would have likely resulted in a collision: two in thermals and one in a head-on high speed closure that was avoided by the fact that the other pilot and I both had Flarm and paid attention to it. I also had a few close calls with non-Flarm equipped pilots, and I had no idea they were there (and neither did they).

And your stupid YouTube video link shows absolutely nothing relating to a soaring environment. You may be happily distracted by repetitive and confusing environments as demonstrated in this simplistic and overly contrived perception test, but the aviation world I live in encourages the observation of constantly changing situations. I welcome the addition of Flarm in my cockpit, as it gives me an additional awareness of my situation and the pilots who also choose to use it.

For pilots like you, with a clear view of their colon and nothing else. I would prefer that you pick another thermal. And quit turning in the opposite direction.

Flarm helps. No doubt about it. 80% of the serious XC pilots in Moriarty use Flarm. We still like looking out the window, but a bit of advance warning is a nice thing.

If you think Flarm is "STUPID," pull your head out, become prescient, invent time travel or don't fly. Obviously you are better qualified and have superior situational awareness than all the mortals that infest your airspace.

That was a joke.

You obviously don't know what you are talking about.

Whether this solution compares to FLARM technology or not - I think overall it's a very innovative idea that has a lot of potential in it. As Ben mentioned, a ground base station can broadcast information from the ground, gliders can share the location and strength of thermals among themselves, all at the cost of a $100 gadget. I cannot say that I have ever had the chance to fully exploit what PowerFLARM gives, but knowing that others are in the air nearby is already a great safety feature, especially given that the cost of this gadget is a fraction of the cost of a new PowerFLARM portable. Though credit goes to Flarm for collision course detection, but I'm not sure that this single feature justifies the huge price difference ($100 vs $2000). I hope this app will have many more features and the solution will be used widely among glider pilots.

On Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 6:04:45 PM UTC-5, Marton K-Sz wrote:
Whether this solution compares to FLARM technology or not - I think overall it's a very innovative idea that has a lot of potential in it. As Ben mentioned, a ground base station can broadcast information from the ground, gliders can share the location and strength of thermals among themselves, all at the cost of a $100 gadget. I cannot say that I have ever had the chance to fully exploit what PowerFLARM gives, but knowing that others are in the air nearby is already a great safety feature, especially given that the cost of this gadget is a fraction of the cost of a new PowerFLARM portable. Though credit goes to Flarm for collision course detection, but I'm not sure that this single feature justifies the huge price difference ($100 vs $2000). I hope this app will have many more features and the solution will be used widely among glider pilots.

Actually, the amount I was charged for a pair of the goTenna devices, after putting 'BENDER25' in the discount field, was $134.25 - which made it $$67..13 per piece. I found the suggestion here (bottom of the page - 25% discount):

http://travelwithbender.com/product-...na-mesh-review