Below Radar
Every wish to communicate on 130.4 MHz, since the cloud 1 glider pilot may wish to use may also attract others. And for the information of anyone else interested.

Also likely to be carrying FLARM, but unlikely to have a transponder.

Pot, meet kettle..........:O

cloud sharing
 

hey guys, great idea, why dont we share the clouds fairly? Glider pilots have them in the day time when they are convective and the rest can use them at night

below radar
I would hope to persuade you that routing round isolated cu is the most sensible thing to do as you can see all traffic and not rely on a piece of equipment or a controller to keep you and the other guy safe! The cost of dodging the odd cu is almost neutral, but what price safety?
Fuli Abound is correct, you cannot always go round

Fitter 2
Glad my banter wasnt wasted. I was getting the feeling that I was being talked down to as I was "only" a glider pilot. I would say that there are a lot of glider pilots out there with 10,000hrs plus not a few, we are not a bunch of numpities.

back to the question, flying imc out of CAS now dangerous ?

Not dangerous at all if everyone accepts the real situation and not blindly continuing on in their own little world. Every one knows about 130.4 and FLARM. I know there are reasonable numbers of powered pilots buying FLARM and some glider pilots have fitted mode "S". Smart pilots know which clouds other users might be in and form a risk assesment before entering and only a few blunder on into cloud in the belief that they are the only ones who should be in there and that a controller or device will somehow keep them safe (you know who you are). Some of us glider pilots do switch our mode "S" on in cloud and call for radar on box 2 if we have a second box and mode "S" oh and if there is someone to call!!

Thanks everyone for the debate, it has been useful, I have learned quite a bit and I have enjoyed it.
Lets share nicely and fly safely

b b

But you've no idea how to write a 10,000 hour question mate ;) (this is banter for the avoidance of doubt)

Hi Badbear

any time. I would possibly derive a little amusement watching some of the 'I'm fully trained in instrument flight' holding a 40 second turn in a turbulent cloud with the aileron/rudder/elevator feel and response of a 25 meter sailplane, and then come out accurately on heading. I'm sure I would learn something.

Meanwhile, I hope there has been some mutual learning going on. I don't think many IR pilots were aware of the 130.4 procedure, and if the RAF do fit FLARM to their Tutors that will no doubt increase the rationale for semi-universal carriage.

I'm sure we will pass each other somewhere, propellor driven. powerless or glass in hand.

I tested Chris’s Flarm in my MCR01. I had problems mounting the unit and battery. Unlike the MRX PCAS, the Flarm does not have internal batteries and although Chris had loaned me an external battery and some cables, I had to sort things out. Chris obviously has the unit wired into his glider battery system and if this had been my own unit I could have done the same but a temporary fix, which was not going to bounce round the cockpit or short circuit on finals, required a bit of thought.

Having got the unit working, my first concern was whether the active nature of the unit would work in the relatively hostile environment of my MCR01. Unlike a glider, I have a lot of EM generating kit, separated from the unit by 1mm of Carbon fibre and a few cms of space. My concern was not justified; my Navcom, intercom and EFIS systems worked fine and so did the FLARM. Tick in the box on that one.

On start up, the integrated GPS located its position and the unit went “active” within about 30 sec. This is all indicated on the front panel using LED’s. First impressions of the unit in the air were good. The LED display was very bright and clearly visible, despite the bright sunshine and bubble canopy. The volume of the alerts was just too low for my aircraft / headset combination. The volume on the unit is not user adjustable, but LX confirmed that if required, the volume could be increased by the factory. My aircraft is quite noisy and the Bose headsets do a good job of reducing this, so in most aircraft the setting may be adequate.

The display is very clear but is not as intuitive as you first think. It displays the threat direction relative to track, not heading. If you are flying a slow aircraft on a windy day, the variation could be significant. Having said that, I think you would adapt, and most powered aircraft are probably sufficiently quick and do not fly in very strong winds, so this is probably not a problem. The unit’s main benefit is that it warns you that there is a threat. The 18 seconds to sort this out is quite a long time, provided you have worked out a plan in advance. If the unit were mine, I would integrate it into my MGL EFIS, which would solve the audibility issue and give a better threat indication but at the expense of true portability. My conclusion, based on the test flight, was that the unit was reasonably well suited to the power environment and there was no intersystem interference. The PCAS box was right next to the FLARM, on top of the panel, but it also continued to work normally.

For about £1000, it would be possible to fit both of the above units. This would give quite a lot of collision avoidance information, for not a lot of cash.

Rod1

Thanks Rod. What kind of Flarm unit were you testing? There are a number of them and volumne can be adjusted during flight on the Swiss Flarm. Of course I have no idea if it would be loud enough for you to hear in your plane.