Air-to-air communication and the FCC/FAA

On Thursday, April 4, 2013 11:20:06 PM UTC-4, wrote:
With respect, the belief 1-1/2 frequencies will handle all the bandwidth of competition P-PC is shocking. My suspicion is there will be considerable bandwidth use which will only reduce after seasons of practice and experience. It is also my belief the lack of dedicated P-PC frequencies will create generous "road rage" and interrupt pilot concentration; something competition soaring absolutely does not need. Many pilots already "mute" their radios with just the current distraction of 123.3 and 123.5. Imagine the increase in distraction with the addition of P-PC I'm all for team flying but its my belief SSA let this one out of the oven half baked without including provisions for FCC/FAA dedicated P-PC frequencies.

The competition rules committee, in response to strong lobbying by a number of people, agreed to permit P to P communication in regionals, subject to contest organizers determining it would be appropriate for their contest.
The issue of available frequencies is not new. It is one of the reasons that this this initiative was not undertaken previously. Sporting considerations are another.
Each "solution" to the issues related to P to P communication and associated team flying efforts has complications. This is an opportunity to try some of those out and see if there is a practical way to implement team flying,IF the pilots determine they want it long term.
UH

The competition rules committee, in response to strong lobbying by a number of people, agreed to permit P to P communication in regionals, subject to contest organizers determining it would be appropriate for their contest.
The issue of available frequencies is not new. It is one of the reasons that this this initiative was not undertaken previously. Sporting considerations are another.
Each "solution" to the issues related to P to P communication and associated team flying efforts has complications. This is an opportunity to try some of those out and see if there is a practical way to implement team flying,IF the pilots determine they want it long term.
UH

Like Hank said... The RC didn't issue a whole list of procedures and
frequencies, because those will vary tremendously from contest to
contest. A 5 glider sports class regional doing some mentoring is
different from a 30 glider super-regional with US team pilots
practicing pair flying. The RC job is also primarily to work on what
works from a sporting or safety perspective. And we don't know ahead
of time what frequencies work, how much demand there is to talk, etc.
etc. This is an experiment, and we need pilots interested in the
project to find out if air frequencies are a serious problem, and if
so how to solve the problem.

John Cochrane