To add to that: There are already more than 130 orders from Austria, and I
know that at least as much will come from pilots/clubs in southern Germany.
French alpine pilots are also getting on the line - the competition in Vinon
next year will probably have all gliders (approx. 90) equipped during the
contest.

I think that it is the best step towards collision avoidance ever since the
introduction of eyeballs.

--
Bert Willing

ASW20 "TW"


"Stefan" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
Marc Ramsey wrote:

As for FLARM, it's not clear when, or if, they will get (communications)
regulatory approval for use anywhere other than Switzerland.

The story is this: In Switzerland, we had a couple of glider midairs
during the last couple of years. FLARM was developed by a group of
technically educated soaring pilots to address this problem. They didn't
try to develop a standard or something, but just went and built the thing.
If it works, publication of the protocol will and standardisation may
follow.

The Swiss FOCA was helpful, cooperative and unbureaucratic, maybe this is
simpler in a small country in which the soaring community is like a small
village and many people at the FOCA soar themselves. Many glider clubs
supported the development by blindly placing orders for FLARM before it
was even working. This was a crucial point, which only works in a "small
village envinronment" and in a club driven glider scene.

Last season, the first few FLARMs were installed. We expect many more to
be installed during the winter. We are looking at the next season to be a
big beta test of the thing. The key is that many glider clubs were willing
to risk some money and support the development, and that Switzerland is
relatively small (well... absolutely, to be honest), so chances are high
that the glider you'll meet enroute will be FLARM equipped, too.

If the next year shows that FLARM really works, then I'm sure it will make
its way to the rest of Europe. Not sure about the US.

Stefan