Confessions of a Flarm Follower

So, it's time to fess up. I have used flarm tactically in contests. I enjoyed it. And I think it increases, not decreases, the "spirit" of the sport.

How: One soupy, incredibly hard blue day at Perry, I had (as usual) screwed up my determination that this time, I was not going to foolishly go out on my own. I was going to stick with the gaggle as you're supposed to do on such days. That determination lasted about half way down the first leg, when I spied a bird over the town to the right. The bird started flapping, and here I am all alone again.

After a long slog at about 1000 feet and rounding the second turn, I saw two gliders circling on my flarm. Out of ideas, I headed that way. Eventually I saw a flash of wings a few miles ahead and 2000' up. Usually coming in that much under other gliders does not work, but I was out of ideas. I lost them visually, but flew right to where the Flarm said they were. Bingo, the thermal had another bubble in it, and up we go. Day saved, and, it turned out, eventually won.

Another, much stronger day, I was flying with a group of gliders. Two lines suggested themselves. Everyone else went right, but I went left. Over the rest of the leg, I was able to watch how they did vs. how I did. Eventually, my line ended -- it proved they were right. Oh well, I was able to head over and meet up again, and the group went together through the big blue hole. I would have lost them visually, but knowing what was going on was a lot of fun.

I tend to be impatient, often leading out. At minden nationals the glides are very long. After leading out on a blue day, one often wonders, did the others follow, or are they staying behind? It was very useful strategically to know that the gaggle had indeed followed me, so I would have help if things got tough up ahead. Also, it means I could go a bit deeper in the cylinder and reestablish myself. It was also good to know on my disastrous last day, that I had led out once too often, and now was completely on my own to dig out of this mess. Knowing there is nobody there is useful too!

At Nephi, a group of us used flarm radar to coordinate a team of 4 without a lot of radio contact. Did your team mate find a thermal? Boy, it is a lot easier to look quickly at the flarm radar than radio calls.

Ok, I'm out of that closet. Yes, this is a useful technology. Is this kind of behavior a disaster to the "spirit" of soaring?

Sailplane racing has always been tactical. Following other gliders, using their lift, is the heart of the tactical game, especially in world contests and especially in weaker conditions. The issue is not flarm following vs. no following. The issue is looser flarm following vs. much tighter visual following.

As my stories suggest, one of the biggest tactical uses of flarm is that you can spread out. If you want to keep contact with the gaggle in case things get tough, you do not have to slavishly stay a few hundred feet away; you do not have to slavishly stare at them to not lose sight of them. You can go try something else, you can lead out, you can stop for a better thermal, all knowing that it will be easier to keep in contact if you need it.

"Leeching" is not the same as "following." Leeching is the art of staying very close, in visual range. Flarm eliminates leeching because it makes it possible to follow and work together at much bigger distances. Flarm encourages thinking for yourself, leading out, trying a different cloud. To my mind, this is a much better "spirit" than the intensely tactical and concentration-absorbing visual tracking that you have to do without flarm.

I also flat out enjoy the greater situational awareness. Since when is flying around in the soup, unaware what everyone else is doing, only to find out at 9 pm once the scores are in, such a great spirit? I look forward to the day that ADS-B shows us where everyone is, and I know how I'm doing throughout the race.

So, as I see the controversy, this is just about who wins and who loses.

Winners: people who can imaginatively adapt tactics to use new technology, which mostly involves flying at a greater distance from markers.

Losers: people who have invested a lot of time and effort learning the skills of visually-coordinated tactical flying, whether finding targets in the start area, following specific gliders, learning the discipline to stick with the gaggle when needed, escaping others who attempt to follow, knowing where others might go, intercepting radio calls to team captains, and so forth.

No wonder the IGC is up in arms -- a generation of hard-won skills is about to go out the window.

Say I, good riddance. I freely admit this is blatant self-interest. I'm in the first category. I just can't bring myself to spend a whole soaring day looking at and following other gliders, so I never got good at visually-coordinated tactical skills that will now go out the window.

But I also claim that the spirit of the sport is much better if we can fly much more loosely, and Flarm allows that, without throwing away the chance of winning the contest.

John Cochrane BB

Thank you, John. Someone finally is admitting that FLARM is being used tactically.

I don't think I have ever used the word leeching in any of my posts. Rather, I believe this business of being able to see contest numbers and their established climb rates is bad for sailplane racing.

The losers in all this are those who are confident enough in their abilities to lead out, who have honed their skills at looking at the sky and finding the best thermals available and those who can best convert that rising air into altitude. In other words, the losers are those who could best navigate a given sky if they were the only ones flying that day. The losers are those who are the best at soaring.

The winners are those who use a heads down FLARM display to drive hard to catch up to gaggles or gliders outside of visual range, who then use the choicest thermals marked by others to enhance their score. This is not necessarily the leeching scenario described by many. Instead they can jump from best thermal to best thermal without find their own. They may not win, although this is quite possible, but they can consistently do well, even though they would do much worse were they to attempt the same flight without markers.

Biggest loser, though, is the sport of soaring. We lose our heros. These are the great personalities that make this sport attractive young pilots. This sport was built by bold pilots who did great things, who consistently demonstrated an uncanny knack for finding thermals when no one else could. It makes me sick that people want to replace or replicate this kind skill with a FLARM display and then expect us to clap for them at the end of the contest.

XC

On Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at 4:40:49 PM UTC-8, XC wrote:
SNIP I believe this business of being able to see contest numbers and their established climb rates is bad for sailplane racing.


You must have a better Flarm than I do. The climb rates I see on my tactical display are a complete fantasy. The altitude might hint at the climb rate, if watched over several minutes. So let's see, 4 minutes watching to establish the real climb rate, then roll out and head that way say 4 miles away, arriving 7 minutes after the climb started and maybe 3000 ft lower. Chances of finding that same climb? Pretty slim from experience. Pretty slim according to Andy's retrospective analysis.

I'd call myself a "Flarm Observer" more than a "Flarm Follower". I've learned that Flarm Following rarely pays. But like John, I do enjoy seeing what others are up to. Far from ruining the sport, it has made it more enjoyable..

If you want to see what you can do, all alone, picking the best thermals for the day, then OLC is the ideal venue.

I second that claim. The only way you can observe someone climbing in Flarm is by observing the altitude difference through at least a minute or two. The climb rate shown is indeed complete fantasy, and often showing 9.9 knots. I learned quickly the hard way to ignore the climb rate which Flarm shows and only look at altitude difference. Also the circling symbol is not a reliable indicator.
Sure Flam can be used tactically, and those of us not flying contest enjoy it immensely. But it is still far from providing accurate and reliable strategic information.

Ramy

On Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at 10:35:32 PM UTC-8, Ramy wrote:
I second that claim. The only way you can observe someone climbing in Flarm is by observing the altitude difference through at least a minute or two.. The climb rate shown is indeed complete fantasy, and often showing 9.9 knots. I learned quickly the hard way to ignore the climb rate which Flarm shows and only look at altitude difference. Also the circling symbol is not a reliable indicator.
Sure Flam can be used tactically, and those of us not flying contest enjoy it immensely. But it is still far from providing accurate and reliable strategic information.

Ramy

Does anyone know if the rate of climb transmitted is barometric of GPS derived? In either case, it is highly inaccurate, by design. It is one second snapshots of either a jittery GPS altitude, or cockpit pressure, unfiltered and uncompensated. Try running your variometer on cockpit pressure sometime and see how accurate it is. When we get ADS-B, at least it'll be hooked to the static system. For proof, look at the B records in the IGC file. Between 2 second records, it is not uncommon to see 10 meter jitters up and down.. There's your 9.9 knot thermal right there. Head for it if you want, but it is a figment of the Flarm's imagination. This is why when I hear the claim that climb rates should be suppressed as strategic, I know that pilot hasn't actually tried to use it.

Try running your variometer on cockpit pressure sometime and see how accurate it is.
I did. It is as accurate and fast as an uncompensated winter variometer. There is an effect caused by varying dynamic pressure, but if you fly reasonably constant speeds it cancels out in the differential calculation.

On Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at 4:40:49 PM UTC-8, XC wrote:

Biggest loser, though, is the sport of soaring. We lose our heros. These are the great personalities that make this sport attractive young pilots. This sport was built by bold pilots who did great things, who consistently demonstrated an uncanny knack for finding thermals when no one else could.

I have to say when I read this it sounded like a description of Ramy flying OLC from Monterrey to Truckee and back or Gordo and Jim Payne doing crazy distance flights in the wave.

Racing is really about tactical optimization under uncertainty, which is why you find so much gaggling and other tactical behavior - quite a different sport from OLC altogether. Flarm adds some dynamism to the pure tactical game of yore by spreading out the field. It's not clear that wanting to use Flarm tactically is much more than an emotional security blanket. It may in fact result in more spreading out of the field, more independent action and more heroic flying.

Funny how things go full circle sometimes.

9B

On Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at 10:01:03 PM UTC-5, Andy Blackburn wrote:
On Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at 4:40:49 PM UTC-8, XC wrote:

Biggest loser, though, is the sport of soaring. We lose our heros. These are the great personalities that make this sport attractive young pilots.. This sport was built by bold pilots who did great things, who consistently demonstrated an uncanny knack for finding thermals when no one else could..

I have to say when I read this it sounded like a description of Ramy flying OLC from Monterrey to Truckee and back or Gordo and Jim Payne doing crazy distance flights in the wave.

Racing is really about tactical optimization under uncertainty, which is why you find so much gaggling and other tactical behavior - quite a different sport from OLC altogether. Flarm adds some dynamism to the pure tactical game of yore by spreading out the field. It's not clear that wanting to use Flarm tactically is much more than an emotional security blanket. It may in fact result in more spreading out of the field, more independent action and more heroic flying.

Funny how things go full circle sometimes.

9B

A sailplane contest should determine who is the best glider pilot. In fact that is the first rule in the rule book. We all know what skills it takes whether pure cross country, badges, OLC, or competition. That's why in the past contest winners were also record holders.

The rules should reward those who possess these better soaring skills. Now we are getting into this BS that a glider contest is about something else, a new set of skills. Further proof that we have a fuzzy picture of what our sport is about.

If we can't even get together on what our sport is about, how can we expect bright young people to be sold on it.

XC

It would be lovely if soaring races tested pure soaring skills. I like turn area tasks and big MATs for this reason, and I worked to introduce the last start and other anti-gaggling initiatives also for this reason.

But that's not on the table. The question at hand is flarm or stealth mode. In the context of the other rules, that means either a tactical game with a lot of gaggling and following by eyeball, or with somewhat looser gaggling and following by flarm.

If you go out on your own under current rules, you lose the race. End of story.

We cal talk about totally different rules and totally different races. And that is a totally different discussion, not before the ssa board of directors in February and to be imposed on Nationals in the summer.

John Cochrane BB

The question at hand is flarm or stealth mode. In the context of the other rules, that means either a tactical game with a lot of gaggling and following by eyeball, or with somewhat looser gaggling and following by flarm.



John Cochrane BB

OK, so if the question is "flarm or stealth mode", what do you say if it turns out that unlimited tactical use of Flarm actually degrades safety more than stealth mode might?