second and third wave of PowerFlarm adoption?

But getting back to the original topic... Does anyone see merit in putting PowerFlarm in club gliders and towplanes?

On Thursday, July 26, 2012 5:03:01 PM UTC-4, son_of_flubber wrote:
So the competition pilots like PowerFlarm and the glitches are being worked out. The second wave of deployment will come at clubs and glider ports that have a lot of gliders in the pattern and close by terrain features that concentrate traffic.

What about the rest of us? The third wave? I fly at an airport with relatively low traffic. A recreational cross country pilot said to me, "Why do I need PowerFlarm? Most of the time I'm far away from other gliders." Good point.

But what about the student and very low hour pilots flying close to the airport? The pilots that are somewhat unproven in their ability to 'see and avoid'? You know... the kind of pilot that sometimes enters a thermal in the wrong direction? The kind of pilot that doesn't parse the radio call that he is heading straight at you. The kind of pilot who stares at the variometer because he's having trouble centering in the thermal.. You know ... your average very low hours pilot who flies within sight of the airport. (No shame. Everyone goes through that stage. Hopefully it's brief and non-fatal.)

There's a good cost/benefit argument for putting PowerFlarm in ALL club gliders, trainers and towplanes, and that would kickstart broader adoption. When the new pilots step up to their first gliders, they'd voluntarily budget for a PowerFlarm. A few experienced pilots would get PowerFlarm to keep track of those unpredictable newbies.

PowerFlarm is a no-brainer for anyone who looks at the sport with fresh eyes, "why would anyone fly without it?" given the choice. Most of us newbies would have no problem with a surcharge to put PowerFlarm in all club gliders and towplanes.

On 7/26/2012 8:50 PM, son_of_flubber wrote:
But getting back to the original topic... Does anyone see merit in putting
PowerFlarm in club gliders and towplanes?

History may repeat itself...sort of. :-)

"Way back when" (in the ancient late '70's or early '80's) Wil Schuemann made
a similar, well reasoned, argument ships/pilots that would likely benefit most
from his short-time-constant, taut wire mechanical variometer were the club
trainers (most of 'em burdened with glacial, sticky mechanical varios that
even in their best days had longer time constants than his slowest Sage vario)
flown by struggling, wannabe soaring pilots. He presented his reasoning in a
full-color, full-/multi-page ad in "Soaring" mag; IMO this ad easily exceeded
many articles in meat and informational content.

I thought then Wil was correct in his assessment, and have never seen fit to
change my opinion.

To this day I've never seen a Sage vario in any club primary trainer. (Draw
your own conclusions!)

At first blush I'm inclined to agree with your PFlarm assessment (with "the
usual cautionary proviso" about it maybe becoming yet another instrument for a
newbie to fixate upon...IF installed, will prolly give those dedicated
instructors one more thing to caution about!). That said, I'll wager some
cheap beer few will appear in that segment of the fleet, for a small host of
"too much effort/cost/system complexity" reasons...

Bob - not every good idea succeeds - W.

A large number of club gliders are......."not glass." After reading
for many months about the issues faced by glass ships with antenna
placement...has anyone tried Power Flarm in our metal fleet of
Blaniks, Pilati, and Schweizers?

Scott

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...CLES/911289924

On Friday, July 27, 2012 4:11:46 PM UTC-7, Blue Whale wrote:
has anyone tried Power Flarm in our metal fleet of

Blaniks, Pilati, and Schweizers?

Scott

Scott,

The portable works fine in the Pawnee and in my Husky. Just make sure the antenna has an unobstucted view Metal under is okay, and metal windshield pillars and such are not a big problem as long as they are not next to the antennas.

bumper

On Friday, July 27, 2012 7:11:46 PM UTC-4, Blue Whale wrote:
A large number of club gliders are......."not glass." After reading

for many months about the issues faced by glass ships with antenna

placement...has anyone tried Power Flarm in our metal fleet of

Blaniks, Pilati, and Schweizers?



Scott

Does anyone have experience with an externally mounted antenna(s) for PowerFlarm?

Would L/D degradation from an external mounted PowerFlarm antenna be less of a concern on a lower performance ship?