I would simply like people to leave their Mode C transponders ON – at least near airfields. Then it shows up on any panel mounted TAS/TCAS1/TCAS2 traffic display, and is properly integrated into the audio/headset system.
In the UK, many people fly with them OFF due to the crazy CAA policy. How many of those are radiating ADS-B, or something else, I don’t know. I am trying to buy a TAS605A which will merge ADS-B emitters if somebody is emitting both, and then I will have some data.
Peter wrote:
I would simply like people to leave their Mode C transponders ON – at least near airfields. Then it shows up on any panel mounted traffic display, and is properly integrated into the audio/headset system.
Mate, this is an inherited UK people mentality – rebelling. It´s not uniquely British though.
I also do get the traffic warnings, from Sky Echo ADS-B and Flarm (via SD) and SafeSky, via BlueTooth (BT) in my headset.
I am not British. I live in the UK but I am Czech
You asked me what I think, and I told you. And I am not alone in not wanting a load of temporarily wired-up stuff around the plane.
The biggest hazard is not enroute; it is near GA airfields. Unless one flies at very low levels enroute e.g. below 2000ft.
What I don’t understand is that some people here seriously believe that “the best thing” is to have SkyDemon running on an iPad showing traffic from (eg) SkyEcho + SafeSky. Well, my partner has an iPad and we run SkyDemon on it as a backup and guess what – even when using a 2.1A charger, the power is drained – after 2 hours, 40% of battery power is gone.
Add to that on a sunny day, iPads do have a tendency to overheat – ask me how I know this – then you’re faced with an issue of having no GPS and no traffic information.
I have splashed out on ADS-B in / out as well as Flarm in / out; I don’t trust the latency of SafeSky, nor will I ever do so, until the system shows clearly on the display it’s latency.
greg_mp wrote:
I have never heard of a mid-air in our region, but I have already a few cases (5) where I wasn’t very far from one… should we wait for a mid-air to bring solution? I think it’s a help, let’s take it as an help.
Just because it’s never happened “in your region” doesn’t mean it won’t. Actually, it did, but that’s 60 years ago now – well, 60 years ago this coming Thursday – when 2 helicopters collided and all 3 people on both helicopters perished.
Back in 2012, I flew to Koblenz and was eating dinner at the restaurant. On the table next to us was a couple and their young child who were flying back to Reichelsheim – they collided with a PA32 in 3500 feet (so out of range for Safe Sky, had it even existed at the time) and all 8 people on both aircraft were killed.
That was what started me looking at what I can do to minimise the risk of a mid air collision – starting with a Zaon MRX and ending where I am now, sending as much info as I can via ADS-B and Flarm. I tested Safe Sky and above 3000feet MSL when flying over Lower Saxony didn’t work. Below depended on how good my GSM signal reception was, however you could never tell when it was correctly working and when not.
And that is my biggest concern with respect Safe Sky:- if there is any latency – and you cannot claim there will never be any latency with a system which sends a signal from your phone via GSM to a server which then sends a response – then it tells you where an aircraft was and not where it is. Looking in the wrong place for an aircraft is just as worse as not knowing where an aircraft is, in my eyes.
Of course there is a latency. This is why you need to watch out and don’t rely on this tools. This is just a help.
What I don’t understand is that some people here seriously believe that “the best thing” is to have SkyDemon running on an iPad showing traffic from (eg) SkyEcho + SafeSky. Well, my partner has an iPad and we run SkyDemon on it as a backup and guess what – even when using a 2.1A charger, the power is drained – after 2 hours, 40% of battery power is gone.
Something is seriously wrong with your ipad.
Steve6443 wrote:
And that is my biggest concern with respect Safe Sky:- if there is any latency – and you cannot claim there will never be any latency with a system which sends a signal from your phone via GSM to a server which then sends a response – then it tells you where an aircraft was and not where it is. Looking in the wrong place for an aircraft is just as worse as not knowing where an aircraft is, in my eyes.
I just started testing SafeSky. For me it’s maybe not an issue of the delay, but never beeing able to say if it’s working or not. I bought premium version so it could feed into skydemon, however even with a solid gsm signal traffic does not appear sometimes. Then you open SafeSky, open skydemon again, and vualia.
But the biggest issue for me is when the gsm signal breaks, the contact disappears. I would expect instead for it to show that the contact is not being updated, show the time hold old the contact is, but the most important thing – extrapolate traffic based on the historical direction and speed.
I am still a firm believer of Safesky.
Is it a perfect system? No
Do i want to fly without? No
The reason for this is the following: i only fly rentals, one of them has traffic in (but i haven’t found yet if it is adsb only or also transponder traffic) and the others are steam-guage cessna’s.
The second reason is that 3 out of 4 closest airfields have a lot of glider activity.
When i get the chance, I will buy a Skyecho. But even then i will continue to use Safesky, because you can feed the traffic from one onto the other.
I know that you are limited to the cellphone connection but the amount of traffic you get is what matters.
I don’t understand the problem that you have to look at a screen to see it.
You look at the same screen for navigating. If you use charts you have to look at them as well, and that takes even more time then a screen.
And nowadays it is very easy to output the audio warnings to either the audio panel or directly to the headset.
If i ever have the chance to have my own plane i would try to get the most traffic input as possible. And even then, is there anything certified that would show paragliders in the alps?
greg_mp wrote:
Of course there is a latency. This is why you need to watch out and don’t rely on this tools. This is just a help.
Again, when the latency has you looking in the wrong place for the traffic, what use is it? It is telling you to LOOK IN THE WRONG PLACE……
par wrote:
Something is seriously wrong with your ipad.
Took it back to Apple for checking, battery capacity is correct, in order to run SkyDemon it does appear to take such a toll on the battery – this is a 10th Generation 10,9" iPad with A14 chip – when it’s a cloudy day, it’s better but still the USB port cannot hold the charge; on a bright, sunny day, when the brightness of the screen needs to be increased to see things, the drain is heavier.
Steve6443 wrote:
Took it back to Apple for checking, battery capacity is correct, in order to run SkyDemon it does appear to take such a toll on the battery – this is a 10th Generation 10,9" iPad with A14 chip – when it’s a cloudy day, it’s better but still the USB port cannot hold the charge; on a bright, sunny day, when the brightness of the screen needs to be increased to see things, the drain is heavier.
That is not surprising according to the specs. Wikipedia says the battery of your iPad has a capacity of 29 Wh with a 10 hour battery life. That gives a power consumption of 2.9 W. A standard USB port not set up specifically for charging can provide only 2.5 W.
A standard USB port not set up specifically for charging can provide only 2.5 W.
Yes – 0.5A, although USB3 (laptop or desktop) ports can do 0.9A, supposedly… although a device will generally not draw more than 0.5A regardless.
Dumb USB charging is basically useless for anything these days… maybe OK for slowly charging a phone. My Ipad4 Mini just stays about level from a 0.5A USB port, when running FF.
OTOH I’d argue that in flight charging at say 2A is not so safe, due to the heat generated in the device being charged. A very high chance of a shutdown of the device, too.