Rene Bubberman

Rene Bubberman

Well Known Member
At this time of year Holland gives you a spectacular view from above: the famous Tulip fields! I thought I wanted to share that with you.
tulipssmallxg8.jpg

Of course this can best be seen from an RV ;)

Greetings from the original country from the VanGrunsven family!
 
I bet they look even better at 160 knots and about 10m altitude! Not that you'd do that, though...

Thanks for sharing!
 
Thats so cool !! Thanks for sharing ! More ! More !

We see so few aerial shots from RVs flying outside the US (don't we ?)

g
 
tip-toe

The picture doesn't seem to be working for me. Anyone else have that problem?

But... as I was tip-toe-ing through the tulips last week, I was looking up wishing I could see it from the air.

re-post the picture, Alstublieft.
 
Hi Rene,

very nice thanks for posting.

I bet you wish you could go 10M of the deck to see them, and smell them.

You might have missed it but every year we go fly over wild flowers here in South Africa, called Cosmos, in open cockpit ultralights. Lucky in these aircraft we can go 1M of the deck, it is all about low and slow. I posted it over here if you are interested: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=28861

Regards
Rudi
 
Mode S in NL above 1200'?

Hi Rene, there's a rumour circulating in the UK that Mode S is required to fly above 1200' agl in NL. Do you know if that is true?

Regards, Pete
 
TIS?

Hi Rene, do you guys get any kind of traffic info like TIS or ADS-B with your mode-s systems in NL?

Thanks,
Mickey
 
mickey,

TIS is proprietary to the u.s. and already being phased out again before it has really caught on. the newest radar antenna replacements don't support it any more. the concept behind is, that the antenna uplinks/broadcasts a complete traffic picture, which receivers can make of whatever they want. however, this is always based on the location / coverage of an antenna.

ads-b on the other hand is beyond mode-s elementary surveillance. elementary surveillance is what is already or is going to be mandatory all over europe. a lot of light aircraft won't support ads-b for quite a while. not all aircraft have glass/navigation displays, neither do they all have at least an accurate gps or even ins/irs. some mode-s transponders don't even support the expansion to ads-b.
however think of the advanced mode-s transponder as the "wifi network card", enabling ads-b and allowing datalink services.
also, ads-b is only in part the technology of seeing all other traffic in the cockpit and transmitting it's own position. it covers also rules and regulations, wheter aircraft will be able to "self separate" etc... for ads-b there won't be a radar antenna required, at least in theory. but i don't see that happening in busy airspace anytime soon.

some of the primary gains from mode-s elementary surveillance and why it's becoming mandatory are:
-25ft altitude resolution instead of 100ft, allowing for much more accurate tcas and minimum safe altitude warning predictions.
-positive identification of all aircraft
-selective interrogation of aircraft, resulting in more tracking capacity of the antennas / especially in zones with multiple radar antenna coverage and allowing "aircraft 2 aircraft" communication (e.g. tcas resolution advisory, etc..).

a lot of airliners already put out their position as part of their ads-b / advanced mode-s data packets, which can be made to display on a computer.
there are boxes that you can buy for less than 1000€ and hook up to your pc, basically mode-s "scanners".

so an efis with the right mode-s transponder could be made to display that traffic. there are several limitations to such a solution however.
-as far as i know, the most popular mode-s transponder, the garmin gtx-330 does not support several of these datalinkg/advanced features as it is already an older unit.
-it doesn't help much if you can see the airliners at level 330 but no the vfr traffic in close proximity which you would like to see.
-submitting your own position will likely only be approved via certified units, as an accurate "own position" is critical for the complete system to work eventually.
-the whole thing was drafted pre 9/11, security/privacy issues are obvious.

so for now, the only real options are the zaon, true tcas units or flarm in europe, all having their pluses and minuses what performance, price and information quality are concerned.

bernie

p.s. with the latest software release on our radars, we're now able to see the mode-s info of all aircraft in our coverage area, so unauthorized penetrations of our class c airspace are now much easier to track and investigate than ever before.
 
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Mode S

Thanx for the insight, Bernie, I suspect that you are in the traffic control business?
Actually, if you ask our "Amsterdam information" or "Dutch Mill info" if they receive mode S data they confess that their equipment to receive Mode S data is not online yet :rolleyes:
So much for these investments and the benefits of it..........
 
Best transponder

Bernie - thanks for the details.

From your perspective behind the screen, what's the best transponder?

I've currently got a narco at-155, but when I hear the NL boys are already requiring mode-s, looks like I should consider an upgrade. :(
 
hi guys,

that's right, i'm an air traffic controller (ATCO) at TWR/APP Zurich.
we only got in the mode-s data in the last software release and we're actually a bit ahead of oher countries... i know the u.k. and germany are also among the leaders while italy lags big time (haven't even bought the new radar antennas yet, which our company did back in 2003) only to name a few.

i for one, plan to install a funkwerk-avionics (formerly known as filser) TRT800A mode-s transponder. about the same price as a gtx-330 imported from the states, but over 1kg! lighter, much shorter, doesn't need a cutout in the subpanel, less power drain, internal altitude encoder, fully datalink capable for future use etc... about the only downside is that it requires an external air/ground switch, which the gtx-330 takes from the gps input.

p.s. and mickey, you'll have to have a mode-s transponder after 2009 or latest 2010, they always moved the mandatory date a bit in switzerland, and already now if you want to fly in german controlled airspace, so it makes no sense to install an old fashioned transponder in a new aircraft.
bernie
 
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