Claude reminded us of the two Earthrounders who passed away since the last meeting: Winthrop Dale and Frank Haile.

Then he brieffly recalled the history of the Site from the offer of one page from the EAA on their Site at the first meeting in Oshkosh in 2000. Our site now has 160 pages with an excess of 1500 pictures. The database covers 342 known flights and is 'searchable' for a variety of parameters. There is also an index of all the names with links to the pages treating these names.
Claude also mentionned that we lose an average of one Earthroundesr each year. And in order to pay respect to their memory and not forget them, he proposed a new page, a 'Memorial page', where they could be remembered. He asked for some feed-back, wether the page would be considered as a 'morbid cemetary' or a 'memory lane'. Depending of the feed-back received the page will be created or not. If it is, help is requested from those who have known well the missing Earthrounders with information, photos, etc.

Claude opened the discussions of GPS tracking. From statistics of the last 3 years, out of 27 RTW, only 9 pilots used some GPS tracking, 8 used Spot and 1 used Spider-track.
The main difference between models is the satellite system they use to uplink the information. The world coverage depends of the uplink.
The main uplinks are:
- Globalstar used by Spot: Covers 80% of the Northern hemisphere and Australia but does not cover the bottom of the 3 main oceans and does not cover polar regions.
- Geo-stationary satellites as used by Immardat: does not cover the polar regions above 78° of latitude.
- Iridium: covers 100% of the globe surface.

The prices reflect the coverage going from the rather cheap Spot (limited coverage) to those using the Iridium sytem (like Spider Track).

So any prospective user of a GPS tracking system should first check the world coverage available before buying. Some glossy brochures simply do not give this important information on the coverage.

Several known users were asked to comment on the devices they have been using:
- Yellow Brick (more for expeditions) by Andrew Hopper
- Spider Track by Andrew Hopper (needs PhD in nuclear physics to work out the manual!)
- Spot by Claude (also needs PhD, limited coverage in Southern Hemisphere)
- Iridium Text System by Claude
- Mail a sail by Flemming
- Track Plus by Bill Charney
- Mywakes.com by Helmut
- Solaradata by Art


Here are a few links to tracking devices manufacturers or dealers:
Indigo: https://www.indigosat.com/
Siper Tracks: http://www.spidertracks.com/
Yellow Birck: "http://www.yellowbrick-tracking.com/
Spot: http://www.findmespot.com
Spot coverage: http://www.findmespot.net.au/SPOT-Coverage.html
Several reviews of the Spot system: http://www.equipped.org/SPOT_ORSummer2007.htm
Jodie's Spot Instructions: http://www.jtlawrosky.com/files/Jodies_Spot_Instructions.pdf
Delorme: http://www.inreachdelorme.com/
Mailasail (Networks available): http://www.mailasail.com/Communication/Equipment
Track Plus: Track Plus: no technical info on Site, no indication on coverage.
Indigo: Indigosat: no indication of coverage.
Mywakes: Mywakes: no indication of coverage.
Solaradata: Solaradata: Uses Iridium: total global coverage.

FSI (Flight Service International) is still existing and has only changed the name of the company into Flight Service Worldwide (FSW). We spoke today with Mr. Graumann, CEO, and he confirmed that the company is still offering all handling services.
Contact:
e-mail: ops@fsint.de
Phone: +49-(0)7229-1854-0
Fax: +49-(0)7229-1854-18
Many thanks to Marga and Ralph Hannemann for the correction

A previous statistic on insurance is here: