Originally Posted by
The B Word
I believe the OP is an ex-Service Air Trafficker and also Air Cadet Gliding Instructor as a reservist in later years?? Both yours and Neil Murg’s posts stand out as folks that have been on Pprune for some time but don’t seem to have posted here before. So it looks kind of odd that you chip in on a military discussion forum in defence of a piece of cheap kit that many mil operators have seen and don’t like due to it not transmitting a signal that any of them are ever likely to detect. Now ADS-B Out is a different matter and many types will detect that via various means. As for introducing your own bespoke weather colour codes - well that just beggars belief!
Apologies if I made a faux pas posting here. I arrived on this thread having clicked on a link in a forum I came across while researching Pilot Aware. I have one and now want to make it a permanent install in the Jodel I fly. I didn't notice any filters making me aware that this is exclusively a military forum and Pilot Aware is a GA product. I have great respect for the forces and didn't intend to barge into the officers mess uninvited! I used to attend Military Civil Aviation Safety events (they had a name like MCASD or something). They were excellent events, great fun, and fostered a better understanding of the challenges civil and military pilots face in shared airspace. It rather sounds as though you do not subscribe to that sort of fraternisation.
It isn't clear to me what the objection to Pilot Aware (PA) really is. The OP complains about metar colours. I thought PA provided a feed and the display device and software managed the rendering, eg SkyDemon on an iPad or whatever. Either way I will go back to PA and ask them if they can influence this and suggest conforming to the standard you recommend. I hope to avail of this feature in due course. I presume however that military pilots will not actually be relying on Pilot Aware for metars in flight so I wonder why the OP chose to comment here. If, as you say, the OP is involved in gliding then that person should be the first to embrace with enthusiasm Pilot Aware and anything like it rather than attack it on any forum. Pilot Aware is Flarm capable and invaluable anywhere gliders may be encountered.
You dismiss Pilot Aware as 'cheap'. With the greatest respect I can't help thinking that calling Pilot Aware cheap is a luxury you can afford because the tax payer funds your flying. For the rest of us cheap translates as affordable. If Pilot Aware is objectionable by virtue of being affordable then I think it stands guilty as accused.
Finally, I hear what you say about ADS-B. No argument, would be great if it had it. I believe it detects ADS-B so if you are transmitting as you scream down the valley low level in your typhoon (yep, I'm jealous as hell) then at least the situation is better than no Pilot Aware or similar in use. Surely you would prefer it that way?
Blue skies and tail winds to all. J