Avoidance Rule

[Salvatore Piu]

  There is a down-side of relying on the caller for avoiding collisions (at
least in this pattern category):
  Sometimes the caller is very busy helping the pilot with things such as
centering, approaching box ends, flying too far out or too close, other
miscellaneous advice, not to mention figuring out or reading the next
maneuver to the pilot.  With the higher classes getting harder and busier
for the pilot, I've noticed the function of the caller has typically
increased due to the sequences being flown.  I suspect the higher clases are
getting to the point where even the caller must be an experienced pilot or
caller in order to keep pace with pilot/plane.  Therefore, for most pilots,
I would not recommend using the primary caller to also spot-call for mid-air
avoidance.
  How about a second caller to watch for potential mid-air avoidance?
:-)
Sal Piu


-----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org
[mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On Behalf Of Kurt Koelling
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 10:30 PM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Re: Avoidance Rule


When I am flying in an IMAC contest I tell my caller to watch the other
plane just as much as he/she watches my own plane. Often my caller is the
one that actually calls an avoidance for me because it is not possible for
me to watch the other plane. By the time I see the other plane it is often
too late to make a correction. However, if the caller is watching the paths
of both planes (and warns the pilot in advance) many midairs can be
avoided.  Here is my not so scientific data, but data none the less...  In
the past three years I have flown in 28 IMAC contests and I only observed
one midair.  The rule really does seem to work.
Kurt Koelling

*****************************************
At 08:44 AM 1/30/2003 -0600, you wrote:
I'm not disagreeing, Croz, but here is my observation from limited
experience. I've seen several midairs at contests, unfortunately. Each time
was such a shock that no one saw it coming. In only one case (at the now
infamous Temple 2001 where 7 planes were lost in one contest) were the
planes even flying in the same direction. But even here, neither pilot saw
the other until it was too late. Others of us did, but there wasn't much we
could do in the split second before.
I'm curious to know is this is really beneficial in IMAC
--Lance

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