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Old 14th Aug 2017, 19:08
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India Four Two
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Manchester MAN
Posts: 6,644
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A word of caution

First, let me say that I don't have any experience with the portable PowerFlarm, but most of the gliders and towplanes in my club have permanently installed PowerFlarms, and my experience with them, mostly in a towplane, has been disappointing.

Gliders often come and go on the display, depending on the relative orientation of the two aircraft. On the other hand, ADS-B traffic always shows up, which is not very useful, since it is all commercial traffic in controlled airspace!

I have found that the PowerFlarm display is actually detrimental to in-flight safety, since it is very easy to spend too much time looking at the display, instead of looking out of the window. Also, you have to remember, that not all traffic will show up on the display.

My current SOP is to ignore the PowerFlarm display and keep up a good visual scan. I will only pay attention to the display, if I hear an alarm in my headphones.

An important point is to make sure you set it up properly, including activating the Mode C functionality.
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