Is anyone building / flying with a PilotAware system? My component parts are on order and have cost around £30.
I read somewhere close to 200 licences have been issued in the UK so even without ADS B out / mode S I should pick up a fair few contacts flying in the south of England.
I have bits on order. No idea how well it will work out here, but I will report back.
I built one and found it does detect airliners at 35,000 feet using ADS-B in. It can also act as the primary GNSS position source for Skydemon on an tablet (i.e. replacing a bluetooth external GPS receiver box) and has its own barometric pressure sensor to adjust to current pressure levels. I had less success with the proprietary Pilotaware transmission/reception – the RF module is being re-engineered and a new one will be available which doesn’t involved soldering. While I believe mine did work initially, I wasn’t able to detect anybody else. The latest tests claimed 8km range and higher, more than enough for most light GA purposes.
It will need critical mass of people to have these to make that worthwhile. I think it would be great for clubs (eg receiver in the clubhouse to know where aircraft are and might be expected back).
The unit can also drive ADS-B out with several transponders and I know of a few Permit aircraft owners who are actively working on that.
Sadly it’s incompatible with FLARM for legal reasons (FLARM protocol is encrypted and copyright).
Other similar projects include Stratux in the US (an open source Pi based ADS-B in) and OpenGliderNetwork (open source ground receiver for FLARM).
new one will be available which doesn’t involved soldering
I believe now it’s just a list of parts, plug them together, download the software and obtain a licence, no soldering required!
It will need critical mass of people to have these to make that worthwhile
Interesting phrase I’ve heard a lot recently. At what point would people suggest that this has been obtained? Is it quantifiable?
Latest figures on the website show 300 requests for the hardware, that’s presumably from GA aircraft flying at our levels.
IMHO to make a TAS system useful you need something like a 50% penetration.
So for a country like the UK, Germany, etc you would need something like 10k installations and these to be actually switched on.
There is only one system which gets anywhere even remotely near that figure: active TAS/TCAS in combination with airspace regulations requiring the installation and use of Mode C or Mode S transponders. But at some €10k-15k, most GA will never adopt it.
This leads to measures to reduce the risk on flying profiles where you are facing a high level of non-adoption. With transponders, this risk is heavily concentrated – in the UK, anyway – below 2000ft. I can think of several reasons for this… So I almost never fly below 2000ft, because most people down there have their transponder off, or set to Mode A only, or don’t have one.
And I see no reason why any other system would get a wide adoption at low levels, even if it is much cheaper. Most people simply don’t spend money on stuff unless they have to, or there is a visible benefit to them immediately.
FLARM has been around for years, yet almost no powered GA uses it – outside specific regions e.g. pilots flying in areas with heavy glider activity (and even in the UK almost no powered GA uses it, even pilots flying in areas with heavy glider activity). Gliders themselves use FLARM a fair bit because they have a direct benefit.
I agree that PilotAware is unlikely to get widespread adoption. Having said that I got one myself (had to ask someone else to build it for me as I don’t have the skills myself).
The difference between that and Flarm, is that I can get a pilot aware for less than 1 hour’s flying, while a Flarm I’m looking at €1500 or more. The first can be for interest, the second takes a serious dent in my flying budget ;)
But I agree that PA isn’t really going to be a lot of use to me. The only traffic that I’m likely to see is stuff that is already inside controlled airspace, so if I’m share airspace with it, I’ll be under positive control. It might be useful to see at times, but not very often I would imagine.
Having said that, I can see situations where it could be useful. If for example an airfield is “dominated” by one or two school fleets, then if they equipped their own fleet, they would likely increase their own safety factor considerably. Those operating from the same field would have good incentive to adopt too. But then most schools don’t have the money to do this, even if it is cheap!
The only traffic that I’m likely to see is stuff that is already inside controlled airspace, so if I’m share airspace with it, I’ll be under positive control. It might be useful to see at times, but not very often I would imagine.
You could say exactly the same for ADS-B, in Europe, for many years to come 
That IS what I’m saying ;)
Looks like something I have to try. I won’t expect seeing anyone here in the waste airspace though. Is this needed to get “into” FR24? or is a normal transponder enough? I know FLARM needs a a ground station for this to work.
This doesn’t get you into FR24. You’ll need something else to do that (eg. EuroControl flight plan, ADS-B Out, or Mode S & Good altitude).
