The Pilotaware system quite clearly has significant flight safety benefits, and the award is well-deserved.
Not really, the pilot aware is a fairly good safety feature If you happen to be in range of one of their ground stations, otherwise it is just like any other Raspberry Pi based ADS-B receiver using a software defined radio (hardly world breaking). But the thing that is arguably unsafe is pilot aware’s insistence to bring in things like these non-standard weather colour codes or introducing another proprietary signal standard. They have persisted with this signal standard, even though no other devices receive it, and also even though the CAA have said that ADS-B transmission is the same standard. The CAA have even introduced a low-power version of ADS-B under civil air publication 1391 but pilot aware insist on continuing to press with their own proprietary standard, even though no one else sees it. I hear they have even tried peddling it to the UAV and MOD under some new smaller version called Graffiti - which agains dilutes the market when the transmission standards should be united. So I personally don’t agree that this is a
significant safety benefit.
As for business leaders getting gongs. Have a read of
https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/in-busi...warded-an-obe/ to see what the normal standards are.
I would agree with Clott here, in that there is normally a significant charity effort, or an effort to increase social mobility through job creation, to qualify. I also hear that the inventor of sky demon got a gong too, I would also offer that such companies don’t really create lots of socially mobile jobs and I’m not hearing about charitable effort, then one wonders what these gongs were actually for? Building a Raspberry Pi ADS-B receiver or some electronic flight bag software is hardly a world-leading and inspiring effort, is it? There are literally dozens of similar products available. So the common link, as Clott points out, is that clown Shapps (the chap that tried to deceive the world by changing his name to Michael Green -
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...keter-while-mp) who can only be the driving force behind this as minister for transport? With so many others giving their time for free to the world of general aviation safety (like the people that deliver the safety evenings on behalf of the CAA for travel expenses in their free time, or those in the Light Aircraft, Gliding and Microlight Assocs that give masses of their time for free for the benefit if others’ safety) then the sudden appearance of such awards looks highly suspicious. I also heard that Shapps, as a GA pilot, uses at least one of these products.
My personal view has always been that these gongs should be awarded for significant effort outside their normal place of work. Like the footballer Rashford’s holding of the Government to account for feeding children struggling to be fed. That is inspirational. Bringing out another ADS-B receiver or electronic flight bag is not, in my opinion.