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Old 22nd Aug 2015, 12:15
  #51 (permalink)  
vee-tail-1
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Pembrokeshire UK
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Interesting thread. Seems to me there is a desperate need for a technical fix to deal with the basic incompatibility of gliders and powered aircraft.

For some here flying is a hobby, and for others a way of life. Most of the glider pilots I have met are passionate about their sport. They accept the challenges and dangers as part of a highly demanding inherently risky but hugely satisfying activity. Glider pilots wear parachutes and are constantly ready to use them for very good reasons. Gliders are constantly turning, climbing, descending, and can be encountered almost anywhere on a good gliding day. Glider pilots inhabit a different reality to those of other aviators and that reality may not include use of a radio for situation awareness.

Flying for me and others of a like mind is not a hobby. It is a discipline and I am just as passionate about it as the glider folk. My flying is about getting safely from A to B to C as safely as humanly possible, without putting my passenger or myself at risk. So each flight is planned to take account of weather, NOTAMs, terrain, danger areas, aircraft serviceability, etc. All known and knowable variables which can and should be considered to ensure a safe flight. But gliders are an unknowable variable which present a very real flight safety hazard. There is no way that I can plan ahead to deal with gliders, since they can appear at any height any place any altitude and going any which away.

The only way I can safely avoid the risk of a midair with a glider is not to fly when the gliders are flying.

So I try to avoid flying at weekends or during particularly good gliding weather, this also tends to keep me out of the way of lesser hazards like balloons and microlights.

Use of the radio with ATC and transponders helps, as no doubt does FLARM, but for now our safety still depends on looking out, and even that is not infallible. Here in West Wales the eventual fix for all this is under development. When UAVs or drones can fly anywhere in any weather without bumping into other aircraft then the situation will be transformed. Until then I at least will prefer to fly during the week and will go sailing at weekends.
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