1
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- Including navigation/glide computers databases/software etc
- USE AND DANGERS
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2
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- Why is it so useful ?
- What can we use it for ?
- How do we use it ?
- What are the pitfalls ?
- Advice
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3
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- Navigation is highly accurate
- Following a ‘route’ is easy
- You can more easily avoid airspace infringements
- Turn point id/turning is made simple
- Navigation to alternate airfields for landouts is easy
- You know exactly where to call your crew to when you landout in field!
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4
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- As above
- plus Tasks and
- Final glides
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5
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- This is the difficult one !
- Various equipment configurations
- Display, computer and GPS ‘engine’ may be separate
- No two different models/setups work the same way
- You need to FULLY understand how to work your equipment while you are
still on the ground
- Most have a simulator mode.
- This IS the lifetime habit breaking situation
- READ THE MANUAL !!
- Even if no one else knows how it works, discussion with others may
clarify a few things
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6
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- Play with it in simulator mode until you are confident you know how it
works
- You may need to ‘revise’ how to use it at the start of each new season
- Ensure everything is switched on, set up for your flight and working
correctly before take-off
- Achieving this after t/o can be dangerous
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7
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- Distraction while flying
- especially if you are not sufficiently familiar with the kit
- Poor reception/loss of signal
- Loss of power supply
- Misinterpretation of the display
- Over-reliance on the correctness and accuracy of databases maps etc.
- Decay of backup map reading skills
- Heading is NOT the same as track
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8
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- Make sure you FULLY understand how it all works and have practised using
it (?simulator mode) on the ground before ever flying with it.
- If it is a portable device fly dual with a safety pilot while learning
to use it.
- If it is built in to your aircraft go to 1. above and be cautious on
your first flight.
- After take-off ignore it if you find it distracts you from lookout or
handling.
- But you will have learnt how much you DON’T know about how to use it.
GOTO 1. above and start again!
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9
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- Be circumspect about the accuracy of databases and maps especially where
airspace is concerned (even if you have updated it this year)
- DO NOT fly up close to indicated airspace boundaries when you are zoomed
right in. (Seems like a good idea
but really isn’t)
- Revise using it before the first x/c of the season
- Don’t assume because you knew how to use it last season you will
remember this.
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10
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- Do not rely completely on the GPS kit. IT MAY FAIL. (Loss of battery
power, loss of gps signal, software crash…)
- Keep a continuous update of your position on the map and always be
prepared to revert to map/compass navigation
- Always cross check information from the gps-map with common sense by
relating it to what you can see on the ground, on the paper map and with
the compass. Do not blindly
believe the gps-map
- It has been known for W long. to be confused with E long. especially
in the UK!
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11
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- Do not fiddle with the kit controls in the air unless you are totally
familiar with it – familiarity is
acquired on the ground!
- KEEP A GOOD LOOKOUT
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12
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- The PRIMARY method of collision avoidance for glider pilots is:-
- LOOKOUT
- Flarm is an AID to lookout
- NOT a substitute for it
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13
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- Flarm contains a GPS receiver which locates the aircraft’s position
- Flarm also contains a transmitter/receiver which transmits the
aircraft’s gps position to other flarms in range and receives the other
aircraft’s gps positions
- The rest is computation – providing
displays and/or audible warnings of the proximity of other
aircraft relative to you
- It is important to realise that it is all based on gps i.e. speeds,
tracks etc are relative to the ground
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14
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- Flarm is increasingly being fitted in gliders in the UK (and tugs)
- and is very common/compulsory in regions overseas
- HOWEVER NOT ALL GLIDERS are fitted
- Gliders not fitted (or fitted but switched off) will not be indicated as
threats by your Flarm
- The range for Flarm is also very sensitive to the effectiveness of the
antenna installation
- So KEEP A GOOD LOOKOUT
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15
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- Do not let Flarm distract you from keeping a good lookout
- TRACK is NOT the same as HEADING
- Flarm indicates the relative position of a threat in relation to TRACK,
not heading
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16
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17
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18
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- If enabled flarm provides audible close proximity warnings.
- Note that these can be unnerving /distracting
- But maybe useful!
- According to the Flarm protocols, gliders that are on the ground (not
moving) should not produce proximity alarms. However it can happen – be
mentally prepared for a cacophony of warnings as you land!
- Undercarriage warnings have nothing on this!
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19
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- Flarm has many other limitations
- Go to flarm.com for full information
- particularly the Operating Manual
- The quality of the antenna installation in both the transmitting and
receiving aircraft is critical
- i.e. just because Flarm is fitted doesn’t mean it works very well!
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