FLARM was founded in 2004 by three Swiss pilots/engineers in the wake of numerous tragic collisions between gliders. Despite the VFR principle of “see and avoid”, in many situations it is almost impossible to see the other aircraft. At that time, collisions were the most common cause of fatal accidents in gliding. Most accidents happened in daylight and good visibility.

Urs Rothacher, Andrea Schlapbach and Urban Mäder set about developing a system that would alert pilots of an impending collision. At the same time, it shows the pilot where the intruder is so that he can react immediately. After many sleepless nights, the first proof of concept was ready and it was an immediate success! As one of the first examples of crowdfunding, enough pilots were found to start production.