Announcement: no USA FLARM-related rules changes for 2016

On Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 7:18:08 AM UTC-7, John Cochrane wrote:
This is a very sensible decision from the RC.

The issue is not closed, of course. Over the next season, we will have an interesting conversation over beer and SRA meetings. As I see it there are two issues:

1) If flarm can come up with a mode that addresses the obvious safety issues, including somewhat longer range for head-on collisions and awareness of nearby gliders you might veer into if you maneuver away from glider 1 -- should the RC quickly require that mode?

2) The underlying issue: Is flarm following* a terrible thing, lowering the quality of the sport, that must be stopped as soon as technically possible? Or is just a slight shift in rules of the game? Or, is the greater situational awareness given by flarm displays something of a benefit to the quality and enjoyment of the race? (My view) If so, whether flarm develops a different mode is irrelevant.

What we have seen is that the RC listens. There will surely be many discussions and poll questions in the fall.

While we're at it, the larger technical question looms.

Trackers: is it ok for tracking software to show where everyone is? Should RC impose a delay on any legally used tracking software? Should RC develop stronger bans on accessing such data in flight?

Electronics: Cockpit weather is getting cheaper and cheaper. Every cessna 150 has it now. Do we want to continue that ban?

Radio communication: It's working fine at regionals. Should we allow pilot to pilot communications at nationals?

Simplicity: Our equipment restrictions are more and more complex, and less and less enforced every year. (For fun, take a look at the rules regarding disabling of artificial horizon modules. That, to my knowledge, nobody has ever even tried to implement.)

The 2014 RC voted to throw all electronics bans out in a grand simplification. The momentum for that move seems to have been lost. But it's worth discussing just how many, how complex, and how enforced our electronics rules should be.

(*I use the word "following" rather than "leeching," because flarm following is the antithesis of leeching. Using flarm you can stay much further away from other gliders and still benefit tactically. "Leeching" describes the very close following necessitated by eyeball based tracking)

John Cochrane BB

The recent JWGC2015 online tracker had a 15-minute delay.

Frank Whiteley