John Cochrane

Al Tyler and I started together on the first WGC practice day, but the first leg wasn’t going so well. We’d try here and there, cloud after cloud, finding only 2 knots or so – not enough for a great contest flight. Finally, down to about 1,500 feet, we got to a powerplant in the middle of a forest, a bit higher and dryer than the surrounding wet fields. Bingo, four knots. Aaah, you can imagine the sigh of relief. Now, to concentrate on the climb – rack it over, center the narrow core, pull back to the slowest possible airspeed, find that magic balance where the glider rockets smoothly to the sky, look around for birds, gliders, and up for the forming cu….

BEEP BEEP BEEP. The Flarm unit I borrowed from Bill Elliott lit up like a Christmas tree. What the…? Oh, there they are. The lead gliders from the 18 meter gaggle had pulled in behind me and the rest of the fleet was about to join. Wake up, John!

I was suddenly converted. This thing is great!

Flarm works by radioing back and forth GPS positions and projected paths. It calculates which gliders are likely to pose a collision threat, and issues a beep and shows position on a simple display. The beeps get more insistent the worse the danger.  It takes only a tenth of a second to check that display and see where the threat is. The connection to most navigation software gives you an even clearer picture of where the other gliders are.

Throughout the Worlds we were flying in big and often not very disciplined gaggles. The Flarm unit and its connection to my Clearnav display was a lifesaver. Sure, it sometimes beeps about nearby gliders that you already see. That’s not so bad, as it reminds you to really keep track of those gliders. But it also tells you about gliders you might have missed. It tells you about gliders you can’t possibly see. It tells you about that idiot who pulled in behind you and is now 10 feet under you – don’t push over! It tells you about the glider following 20 feet behind and just outside – don’t roll out now!  Most of my Flarm warnings were in fact about gliders behind or below.

It’s helpful in cruise as well. You may think you’re all alone, but if there is someone dangerously close above or behind where you can’t see them, the Flarm will warn you.  If there is traffic coming down that cloudstreet in the wispies 501 feet below cloudbase just like you, you’ll hear about it.  

A typical response from Europeans is “Flarm made me aware of how much traffic was around me that I had not realized was there.”  The vast majority of gliders at the WGC and high-level European championships carry Flarms.

Unlike the Zaon PCAS systems designed for general aviation, it doesn’t go nuts in a thermal filled with other gliders. It just tells you about the gliders that actually pose a collision threat. I was often in gaggles with 30 or more gliders, and the Flarm was silent because they didn’t pose a threat. The software is a big part of the system. It was designed by glider pilots for glider pilots to alert us about glider-like threats, and not bother us with information overload.  

Flarm isn’t perfect. Nothing is. You still have to locate and avoid the threats. You still have to fly defensively, join thermals politely, and keep your eyes outside the window. But my guess is that this system will cut midairs in half or more. The worlds managed a hundred and fifty gliders madly gaggling around weak lift and low bases without a midair. Flarm contributed to that miracle.

Up until now, Flarm has not been sold in the US. However, Flarm will be available in the US starting this winter.  It only works for each of us if the others get it too. So, we have to decide together if we’re going to use it.  

The version sold in the US will be the PowerFLARM unit with ADS-B and Transponder detection capability. It’s about $1,600. That’s a lot of money, though less so in comparison with a $160,000 new 18 meter glider than it is in comparison with a $10,000 sports class queen.  It’s less than the $2,500 transponder, $200 biannual check, and $500 MRX unit that many of us have already installed, and it does a lot more for glider-to-glider collisions than those.  Compared to a $1,200 parachute and several hundred dollar ELT or Spot unit, it provides a lot of value for similar money.

As you all know, we have had a string of midair collisions and near misses in contests in the last few years, capped by Chris O’Callaghan’s tragic accident.  Even if this isn’t statistically the major danger we face, it’s the danger most pilots worry about, because it’s the only one in which the danger isn’t in your control. Widespread adoption of Flarm is an obvious big step in the right direction.

How do we get there? Many people have suggested mandating Flarm. That is a big step, and Flarm may not make sense for every contest, for example a small sports class regional.  A softer path is worth exploring.  Expect most of the world team and top pilots to have a Flarm next year, especially in the more expensive classes.  An informal “let’s all get one” project is already underway.   The rules committee and SSA will certainly be discussing ways to speed and accommodate Flarm use.  Several people have thought of starting a  fund that will purchase and maintain Flarms for rent at contests. It’s in your interest to subsidize the other guy to have a Flarm, and all it takes is one flight with the thing to convert the nonbelievers. 

This article is meant to introduce the topic and start this discussion. Publication in Soaring has a several month delay, so the conversation should be ongoing by the time you read this. We have a long winter to think through Flarm adoption and other steps we can take to really tackle the midair collision problem. Let’s do it.