[NSRCA-discussion] Mid-Air discussion

[Jay Marshall]

I'll say again - the easiest way to prevent mid-air collisions is to fly in
different (geometric) planes. If the flight planes are intersected 10 deg.
to each other then the probability of collision is greatly reduced.

 

Jay Marshall 

-----Original Message-----
From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
[mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Keith Black
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 5:48 PM
To: NSRCA Mailing List
Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Mid-Air discussion

 

Following my mid-air at the N. Dallas contest this weekend there's been an
RCU thread started on the subject. From this discussion an interesting idea
has evolved. For those who would like to read the thread here's the link:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6409493/anchors_6413018/mpage_1/key_/ancho
r/tm.htm#6413018

 

If you'd just like to hear the idea I'll paste my RCU posting below:

 

This is my third mid-air in four seasons. My first may have been avoided,
but the last two were a complete shock to both me and my caller. In fact, in
mid-air #2 my caller said "you're good" (meaning we were not going to hit).
The other pilot's caller walked up to me and apologized saying that he told
the other pilot that he was in the clear. Therefore, I don't know how
effective a third "spotter" sitting between the lines could be.

That being said, two recent events have given me an idea of how we might be
able to greatly improve this problem. The first light bulb was Vicente's
suggestion of the spotter that warns the pilots. The second event was my
walk out to pick up the fragments of my beloved Brio. As I was walking back
I stood for a bit to observe the planes looking down the flight path. It was
amazing how clearly you can see each plane as it moves in and out from the
flight line. 

So here's the idea: What if we sat a spotter at the corner of the box to
watch plane separation in the distance out dimension and then had the other
spotter sitting between the judges (or even back under the cover) watching
in the right to left dimension. These two spotters could use radios with
headsets and continually talk to each other. There are many times that
planes appear to be close to a mid-air from the flight line viewpoint,
however, the number of times that both spotters would be alarmed should be
fairly minimal. When this occurs the spotter could sound an alarm (this
deserves discussion as to the details) and each pilot could peel off of
their course. If one pilot froze the collision may still be avoided by just
one pilot taking action. Sure, this could cause a mid-air, but viewing from
two dimensions should help in alerting only when an impact is probable.

Some have stated that they've seen very few mid-airs, but my experience in
D6 and NATS is that at least 70% (if not more) of the contests I've attended
have had mid-airs. I'm not going to run away crying and quit the hobby due
to this mid-air, but reducing such losses would be a benefit to us all!

Keith Black

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