Our local Class B airport.. DOES see gliders as they thermal.. they know we
are based south of the Class B and keep an eye out.. primary radar returns..
SGS2-33, 1-26 (lots of metal), Grob 103 and LS4 are all seen on their radar.

It could be your local Halifax controllers are not trying, have to many
filters turned on.. or are just not experienced in radar operation.

BT


"Charles Yeates" wrote in message
...
Ralph Jones wrote:

Signal strength is not the problem: a fiberglass ship with a one-foot
corner reflector inside it will look bigger than a metal sailplane.
The bad news: air traffic control radars are "moving target" systems,
which means they filter out returns that don't have any Doppler shift
to indicate a moving object. I don't know what the minimum detectable
speed is, but if you're under it, they just won't see you.

rj

They do not see sailplanes that are thermaling -- tested by Halifax
International Airport controllers