At 19:30 15 December 2015, John Godfrey QT wrote:
All,
The minutes of the 2015 USA Rules Committee meeting have been
posted on the
SSA website at
http://www.ssa.org/files/member/2015...ting_Minutes.p
df .
http://www.ssa.org/files/member/2015...ting_Minutes.p
df
SSA.org Sailplane Racing Contest Rules and Process 2016
Season Rules
Process Documents:
John Godfrey (QT), Chair
Scary stuff regarding FLARM and STEALTH. The discussion seems
to have completely ignored the fact that setting STEALTH mode
effects ALL other FLARM users adversely. A survey was undertaken
of all contest pilots but how many non contest pilots were consulted
and given the opportunity to give their views.
Contest pilots do not operate in a vacuum, they share airspace with
many other users who use FLARM expecting it to give them all the
information available. In the UK all these other users were ignored
prior to a short-lived mandate of STEALTH. The mandate for
STEALTH was cancelled when it was pointed out that non
competition pilots were potentially being put at risk.
I have to say it is a very bold decision to mandate STEALTH in it's
current form. Will the SSA avoid legal challenge I wonder?
To avoid misunderstanding the following is a copy of part of the
submission I sent to the BGA:
"I have been in touch with Dr Urban Mäder, CTO at Flarm. He has
informed me that if Stealth mode is set on any Flarm unit there is a
degredation of the data which that unit transmits to all other FLARM
units. Specifically:
1. The range at which the Stealth mode set unit is detected is
significantly reduced
2. Important information useful for situational awareness is not
transmitted by a unit in Stealth Mode
3. If a Flarm unit is set to stealth mode it effects all other FLARM
units irrespective of their setting."