A working hypothesis is that FLARM lulls pilots into a sense of false security and psychologically offloads the responsibility of traffic separation onto a "black box". Probably especially true with younger pilots who rely on electronic devices to do tasks for them on a daily basis.

Similar behavior occurs when pilots take the output of their NAV systems as fact. Some really smart, highly experienced pilots have landed in some really poor spots because the Black Box said they could get home, notwithstanding there was clearly a mountain range in the way and the required glide angle was uphill. They believed in the Black Box output more than on their own eyes.

This also occurs on the White- Inyo Mt Range in CA, USA. A procedure was initiated 15-20 years ago to reduce midair potential using a standardized position reporting scheme. Pilots became complacent by assuming they knew where all gliders were located due to radio reports. Such folks can easily be identified by how upset they sound when a NORDO glider suddenly appeared in their environment.


This behavior is also seen in people who own cars. They no longer "preflight" the oil, tires or other systems because a system will (allegedly) do it for them.

A CFI friend has a large sign in his flight kit that says "COMPLACENCY KILLS".

Spot On!

I also believe that anything (NAV displays, FLARM, visual "Thermal Maximizers") that causes you to focus significant amounts of time inside the cockpit, are a serious detriment to safety and probably X-C performance. Somebody famous once said "90% of what you need to know is outside the cockpit" That is still true, in my opinion.