Why so expensive (flight recorders)

I fly in Italy, and Garmin COTS are accepted for badges up to gold,
excluding the heigth (1000 and 3000 m).
For diamonds and 1000m, 3000m, 5000m you need an approved IGC logger.

Once you understand that COTS can be manipulated anytime without even
bothering touching the hardware, you also understand that an IGC approved
recorder cannot even be tampered and leaves no doubts about the flight.

If we consider a COTS like a camera, then it all comes down to the
observation of a judge/supervisor just like with cameras in the good old
times. Fact is, that there are too many COTS and unless there are some
restrictions on models we cannot expect that a man is able to know and
understand each of them. So there has to be a "white list" and a "black
list".

I fly with Garmin 76S and 76CSX. Like all Garmin models they cannot be
hacked. There's no way one can change the firmware, otherwise one could also
load pirated maps and everybody know that with Garmin it's impossible on
COTS unless you have an unlock code. The newer Colorado 400T has glide
calculations as well and seems to be the only valid alternatives to palms at
least for basic data and good maps.

However, with garmins you can save a flight and then load it back as the
current track. Or you can load a track and then put it on as the current
track. Not that this means anything, cause the track should be coherent to
the flight times which you cannot predict.

Personally I think that COTS are ok for most of the times, even in
competitions if a competent supervisor is on the field.

Paul


"nimbusgb" ha scritto nel messaggio
...

So, before we go off into fantasy land, let's start talking about the
REALISTIC threats and the differences between the two approaches.
IGC Approved loggers clearly have the advantage in that they offer an
easier administrative approach at contests and other gatherings where
there isn't direct supervision of the FRs. COTS loggers will
require additional manual intervention which make them less attractive
for those situations, but they are equally desirable for a supervised
Silver C.

Off to go skiing. At least I'll be on the ridge...

P3

So we agree then!