Collision Avoidance - General Aviation helicopters

[pilot_tolip]

I'm considering collision avoidance systems. This would be for use in self-fly hire helicopters in the UK.
This would be in addition to good airmanship skills... looking out, listening to frequencies, in contact with LARS/ATC.
One system I've come across and started to research is "FLARM".
What experience and suggestions for General Aviation do you have?

[Ascend Charlie]

I had one fitted to an S76, and the end cost was about the same as a used R22.

Then you need to train the pilots to use it, interpret all its modes and indications - it isn't immediately intuitive. Hours of reading the book, playing with it and then using it in flight to see its foibles.

It won't be a magic wand to stop people getting too close to each other.

[Flying Bull]

Well,
there is TCAS/ACAS, which relies on transponder in the other ships. You wonˋt get indications of gliders.
there is FLARM, which was developed for gliders turning at close distance in the same „bart“(upwind), but FLARM wouldn’t show GA aircraft with transponder
And there is Power Flarm (https://flarm.com/de/produkte/powerflarm/), which will give you information about gliders and other aircraft

I personally think, you shouldnˋt rely on it, but you get a lot more aircraft to see, when you use it.....
With a good lookout and a warning from the unexpected, you increase safety.

[206 jock]

Speaking as relative newcomer to this product, I have to say that it is impressing me so far.

https://pilotaware.com/

I looks a bit amateur, but the Rosetta is an impressive bit of kit. Especially for c£200 + VAT! Integrated into SkyDemon it gives displays of gliders, other squwaking a/c in a virtual radar display.

[love flying]

I’ve been using FLARM in a helicopter for a year now and now find it very comforting. The power FLARM portable shows everything that your Garmin shows AND gliders. I bought it just for gliders originally. FLARM aircraft show up very accurately, whereas the squitter aircraft have a slight (but critical) delay. This seems to be a rather fundamental flaw for VFR aircraft. It’s great if you are flying in a group as you can see where your company is - at that sort of range, only FLARM is accurate enough.
There is more about FLARM in helicopters on medium.com (search for FLARM there). As it’s a portable device, there is no installation- I just use a bit of Velcro.
I am interested to see what Pilot Aware is like as I haven’t tested it.

[hoistop]

Thru the years, FLARM became de facto colision avoidance standard for gliders and many powered pilots recognised that so more and more powered planes and helicopters ar using it - especially after refinements for use in powered machines were made by manufacturer(s). I am using it often when flying in a glider across the Alps and it has saved my day more than once. The bad thing is an overreliance on it, as there are still many non-FLARM equipped gliders around. (not so in France, where their gliding association managed to make FLARM a mandatory equipment and it is practically impossible to fly without FLARM in French glider centres)
I would reccomend PowerFLARM for helicopter use, especially if you are flying in areas with dense glider population - it shows FLARM and transponder equipped aircraft correctly. (there is portable option too)
I would be cautious on apps that are using information taken from open source internet applications, as there is allways a certain time delay and also filtering involved - it could be critical.
The good news is, that UK has the best coverage of ground stations, detecting FLARM signals-effectivelly all mainland UK is covered-but, again, I would not rely on second-hand information.

[pilot_tolip]

Thank you for all the replies. Very interesting knowledge. Thank you.

[Gustosomerset]

PT - there is a very long, but very informative discussion on this topic here: https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=104016
The main issue (as I'm sure you've worked out) is that the current different conspicuity solutions are by no means mutually compatible. So where FLARM/PAW/etc units may make many similarly equipped aircraft visible to you, they may not make you visible to them.
After much reading, I invested in a PilotAware Rosetta for my Hughes 269 which seems to me to deliver the best answer at the moment. There is a view that the SkyEcho unit may be even better, once they can overcome some hurdles that you will read about on that thread.
Suggest a strong cup of coffee before you embark on reading it...

[pilot_tolip]

Thanks for the message. I'll take a good look at the link provided.

[Sir Niall Dementia]

And a lot of glider pilots involved in competitions turn their flarm off so that their competitors don't know where they are.....................................................

SND

[9Aplus]

Pls take this in to consideration too:
https://flarm.com/open-flarm-uas-eid-standard-published/
Nowadays drone close encounters are more often than birds....