20+ members were treated to an evening where they were informed, educated and entertained by our own Neil Charles about FLARM Flight Decks and Tracklogs. This was a follow-up to a previous talk on this topic, and the interest from the members reflects the rapid growth of instruments with tracking and conspicuity capability.
Neil gave a lively and interesting presentation to clear away some of the clutter (everything seems to be called XC-something) that surrounds this subject, covering the latest hardware and software that can broadcast your location to others and receive warnings of the approach of another aircraft. We had a lively discussion around the issues of Airproxes covering some recent incidents, and the response (or lack of it) from the CAA, with a reminder that a lot of military traffic is using maps and stopwatches to navigate and can’t receive FLARM or similar signals from us. In other words, we are invisible to them if they have their heads down in the cockpit juggling map and stopwatch. Sobering thought when you’re flying in any of the RAF’s favourite low-level routes.
Thanks Neil for a great evening, this important topic will need constant re-visiting as our airspace becomes ever-busier: drone super-highways are looming over the horizon, we will need to keep a close eye on how these things will be integrated into our lives.
Here is the link to the Slide Deck