[NSRCA-discussion] Competition question

Mon Dec 18 05:02:21 AKST 2006

On paper it sounds doable Lance.  My concern would be those that fly closer d/t smaller aircraft would be forced to fly the same flight line? That can cause logistic grief for the flight line manager. 
    Myself I feel a viable solution should be found. Many aircraft have become worth in excess of a couple of thousand each now. The day of the cheaper 40 and 60 size models that were somewhat easier to recover from are gone. 
    I have never had a midair. If I did it would wipe me out for rest of season and possibly next year. Others are in similar boat. Loss of plane whether d/t its time / inadequate building or midair is hard to swallow. Building technique along with midair's may be able to be addressed. I have always flown further out on closer in when someone was on other flight line to help avoid the dreaded mid-air.  I call that playing smart. I have always been glad to accept the judge penalties and when they said something to me after the flight I always pointed out it was intentional to avoid the dreaded midair. Their response Oh..  well I gigged you for it. My reply.  Thanks..  Is not a problem for me. I went home with my plane intact.  Did that help  me avoid midair's. Apparently. Should everyone follow that logic. Probably not. But they are willing to take their chances and suffer the loss. I can't. 

                 Del 
          nsrca - 473
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lance Van Nostrand 
  To: NSRCA Mailing List 
  Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 8:37 PM
  Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Competition question

  Solutions are hard to come by.  I attended the Kansas contest this year and they have a unique situation where they can run the two flight lines almost perpendicular to each other.  The pilot stations are about 50 yards apart, but we pit between them and it isn't bad at all.  I expected the interferance factor to be negligible, but that wasn't the case.  The two flight planes were not independent.  They Kindof made a "tee", but the overlap was only a little bit.  Anyway, two planes in the same corners of the box traveling at right angles to each other felt a lot more dangerous than planes that fly in formation. 

  I think its like traveling down the highway with traffic changing lanes but everyone is going the same way, vs being alone on the highway but having a cross road where people occasionally drive straight across your path without stopping.  

  After this experience I began to think that the next best solution is to keep the 2 lines parallel, but put one pilot station 10 yards behind the other (but use the same runway).  This offsets the 150m plane so the better the pilot the less the danger.

  Thoughts?
  -_Lance

    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Keith Black 
    To: NSRCA Mailing List 
    Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 12:30 AM
    Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Competition question

    Years ago the list had a discussion on these percentages (check the archives), then I had two mid-airs in the span of four contests. 

    I'd say in the 4 1/2 years I've been going to contests about 50% of the contests have had mid-airs, sometimes multiple mid-airs. Sometimes both planes lost, sometimes planes were saved. To me that's a huge percentage. When I leave a contest with no crashed/mid-aired planes these days I feel we were very lucky. 

    Still, if you asked me would I rather risk a mid-air or fly only three flights I'd go with the mid-air risk to get in the six flights. After all, we're here to fly, not for static displays.

    Keith Black
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Adrien L Terrenoire 
      To: nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org 
      Cc: nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org 
      Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 6:48 PM
      Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Competition question

      yes, the risk seems high, but I have been attending contests since 1984, about 4 to 5 a year, and I can remember just 5 or 6 midairs, and 2 of them were at the Nats. For several years our club had so many entrys that we ran THREE flight lines, and never had a mid-air. Yes, it is terrible to lose one of our treasures, but I don't think too many of us would be happy making our weekend committment and getting to fly just 2 or 3 rounds. That would sure deter me from traveling more than an hour or two. In reality, I think we have a greater risk of loss just by sheer number of flights we put on in flying practice. It might be interesting to see just what the odds are! How many contests are held each year? How many rounds each contest? How many mid-airs during the course of a season?
      Then compare that to the average number of flights we get on each of our own airframes before it's hidden number comes up!

      Terry T.

      On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 18:17:40 -0600 "R. LIPRIE" <RLIPRIE at centurytel.net> writes:
        Look I would like to ask.  Just out of own curiousness why do pattern contest make two airplanes fly at the same time.

        I may be wrong.  But it seems like it skyrockets the chances of a midair.  Just wanted to ask.

        Matthew Liprie

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