I read great ideas on this thread, but is there anyone who is listening
who can do something about it or is it all academic? I know that the US
soaring population has soaring instruments manufactures, soaring
software developers and FAA contacts which may be able to do something
about it. Sounds like the OZ's developed their own flarm, why can't we?

Ramy

Mike Schumann wrote:
They are already doing that with Light Sport Aircraft. Do those rules apply
to avionics? I would suspect that the FAA would be very receptive to a
proposal that would drastically increase the visibility of gliders and other
airborne vehicles that are currently flying around without transponders.

Mike Schumann

"Marc Ramsey" wrote in message
...
Mike Schumann wrote:
It would make a lot more sense if someone would engineer a low cost ADSB
compliant transceiver that would interface with a PDA. Then eveyone
could go nuts developing software that would be able to identify not only
gliders but also power aircraft. Once the FAA starts installing the
necessary ground equipment, we'll even be able to see Mode C transponder
equiped aircraft using the ADSB version of TIS.

The ground equipment is already in place along the east coast from New
York down to Florida, Alaska, Oregon, and a few other scattered places.
It's much cheaper than upgrading radar equipment, but suffers from the
classic chicken and egg problem.

In principle, a simple low power ADS-B transceiver (to be precise a UAT)
need be no more complicated or expensive to manufacture than a FLARM unit.
In practice, however, the certification costs alone are something over a
million dollars for a device which currently has a tiny market. If the FAA
really wants to kick start use of ADS-B in this country, they need to take
a serious look at simplifying or subsidizing the certification process.

Marc