Am 12.10.2010 16:25, Darryl Ramm wrote:

But every time a glider takes off in that area now is the glider pilot
making a decision to fly in an area of high density airline traffic? I
know this mess was not created by the glider pilots changing how they
operate--but what is reasonable to do now from a safety viewpoint? If
that traffic is there then transponders will likely provide a strong
safety-net, and lack of use might well end up costing a planeload of
passengers their lives and cost soaring greatly if there is a mid-air.
By all means go and tackle Ryanair on the safety implications of what
they are doing. They hardly have a good PR image and the public may
well be sympathetic.

---

Yes, this area has airline traffic, but not what you would call "high
density". ATC aouthorities are watching this closely, and they have the
exact traffic figures, and they also have clear rules when to implement
a Class C or Class D airspace to seperate IFR and VFR traffic. Up to
now, there was no need to do so, we will hear in a few weeks it this
will change next year. We talk to those ATC people, and they listen to
us. There are also glider pilots amongst them.

But definitely there is no cooperation to be expected from Ryan Air. A
company that wants you to pay for the use of the toilet in their planes,
and that recently started to apply for flying their planes with only one
pilot in order to save money will for sure not sponsor any security
equipment for glider pilots.



Moving topic somewhat but I want to make the point that we've lost
several airliners full of passengers in fatal-midair collisions with
light-aircraft and the response to that was largely transponders and
TCAS/ACAS. And gliders operating near high density airline and fast
jet traffic without transponders are effectively bypassing that
evolution. I worry that human nature and perception of risks can allow
apparent reduction of risks in situation because we don't perceive
those rare but critical accidents happening frequently enough to
register as practical risks even if they have catastrophic outcomes. I
start my talks on collision avoidance with the following (USA centric
information). There are similar fatal mid-air collisions outside the
USA.


The situation in Germany is different than in the USA. There is in
general a far more strict seraration between IFR and VFR traffic. E.g.
for the traffic to and from Frankfurt International there will never be
(legally) a situation like the one described in the incident report, as
all IFR fraffic is routed through Class C airspace.

Requiring mandatory transponder use for gliders in Germany would be sure
overkill, and we are fighting against a rule like that.

--
Peter Scholz
ASW24 JE