Originally Posted by
Bob Viking
We have increased glider activity in Snowdonia right now.
That would be an RAFGSA expedition to Llanbedr:
https://members.gliding.co.uk/club-p...13-19-march-2/
NOTAM interpreted | NOTAM Info
Originally Posted by
Bob Viking
Most (but not all) of them have FLARM fitted. Whilst flying in an ACM sortie yesterday we met one of the few non-FLARM gliders at about 12000'. He clearly didn't show up on TCAS, wasn't visible to Swanwick and wouldn't have shown on the FLARM screen even if we'd been able to see it in cockpit.
Can someone please explain how this system is supposed to help us?!
BV
You wouldn't have been able to tell whether it had FLARM fitted or not, unless your own aircraft were FLARM equipped. I believe that all the RAFGSA fleet are FLARM equipped.
As BossEyed explained, FLARM is a proprietary collision avoidance system originally developed by Flarm Technology GmbH for gliders, but now also fitted to many helicopters and light aircraft (such as the Tutor fleet, I believe). Call it TCAS-lite for gliders, if you like. A FLARM-equipped aircraft won't show up on TCAS.
FLARM Technology | The award-winning collision avoidance system for General Aviation
The website that
[email protected] mentions is presumably
Spot the gliders!, created by the Open Glider Network (OGN) project. OGN uses a network of ground receivers to track aircraft equipped with FLARM. I believe that OGN also provides a feed to other sites such as
Flightradar24.com - Live flight tracker!. OGN is not supported by Flarm Technology GmbH, and in fact there has been animosity between the OGN project and Flarm Technology GmbH, mainly over privacy concerns.
According to
List of OGN Receivers - Open Glider Network Project, there is no OGN ground receiver near Snowdonia, so a FLARM-equipped aircraft would not show up on OGN, but would be visible to other FLARM-equipped aircraft.
There does seem to be a plethora of point solutions at the moment - transponders, TCAS, FLARM, LPAT and PilotAware, to name just a few. Some aircraft are fitted with one solution, others with another, and not many of these solutions are inter-operable.