ELECTRONIC CONSPICUITY Now you see me


rs bn a lot of or oin on bind t scns to produc traffic warning devices for GA and it’s all thanks to EVA – Bob Darby explains all


P


roject EVA, now there’s a name to conjure with that you might – or might not – have heard of. It stands for ‘Electronic Visibility via


ADS-B’ and is a ‘joint partnership aiming to enhance safety by improving the visibility of GA pilots to each other and to air traffic control through the transmission and reception of Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast data’. Which is all a bit of a mouthful…


Essentially, it’s a project to create an environment where everyone knows about the traffic in the sky around them electronically. The idea of electronic conspicuity (EC)


for GA might be a tad controversial in some quarters, but it’s really all about


enhancing the normal see-and-be-seen to make flying safer. The idea is to develop innovative


devices that will enable GA aircraft not currently equipped with a transponder to not only transmit ADS-B position information, but also receive information about other aircraft, providing real-time traffic awareness and proximity warnings and reducing the risk of collision. Over the last couple of years flight trials


have been taking place in the UK and across Europe, to try to determine which devices would work best and, crucially, at a low cost. Those trials finished in late August when 11 pilots and observers, volunteers led by AOPA, gathered with six aircraft at Brimpton and benefited


from perfect VFR weather to carry out the eight sets of final interoperability demonstration flights. In addition to traffic information, EVA


aims to support ground use of electronic conspicuity data for infringement prevention, detection and management; to recommend best practice for use of the equipment by GA pilots and to investigate the certification and approval path for low cost devices. Both Europe and the U.S. are concerned about the risks of airborne conflict and in recent years, there have been several independent developments to tackle the issue. These are: FLARM: Flight Alarm and Power FLARM. Glider pilots have benefited for


ot the trafc


22 CLUED UP Autumn/Winter 2016


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36