Originally Posted by
Sunfish
Transiting Benalla a few weeks ago I got my first response in Two years from a glider from my standard “ten mile” call. From the tone I think it was an instructor and he warned that they were circling over the town- not much thermal activity elsewhere. He was near my altitude and even knowing roughly where to look, I couldn’t see him. So much for see and avoid.
‘’I don’t understand why it isn’t mandatory today for gliders to have either a radio and effing use the bloody thing or fit ADSB (sky echo?). They seem to have battery capacity for variometers, etc and ten AH of lithium battery doesn’t weigh that much and takes up about the space of a small lunchbox.
‘’I looked at fitting FLARM myself instead of ADSB but it’s cost is prohibitive and it’s alien technology for powered aircraft.
The issue is that on a good day, you'll have multiple (and by that i mean potentially a couple of dozen) gliders at various altitudes chasing lift. They don't fly fixed tracks and altitudes. If the culture in gliding was for every glider to respond to every inbound call, you'd immediately get a completely jammed frequency. Awareness of the operation and eyes peeled is really the only mitigation. Many ARE fitting Sky Echo ADSB units, but how many powered aircraft have an ADSB In traffic display?