[NSRCA-discussion] Mid-Air discussion

[Mark Atwood]

Offsetting the flight lines by 10deg where it can be done has a HUGE impact.
That reduces the mid-air ³zone² by about 80%.   Spotters really aren¹t all
that practical.  The few times that you can really ³see² a mid-air coming is
when both planes are tracking in the same direction in similar maneuvers and
you see it coming...those mid-airs are seldom the catastrophic ones that
total the aircraft.  It¹s the head on collisions that  no one sees that put
both planes in the ground.  There¹s maybe .5 seconds to see it coming IF you
were just looking for that, and there¹s no way to react to that.

IMAC events call avoidance more easily because A) the planes are flying MUCH
slower, B) they¹re MUCH bigger so it¹s easier to gauge their depth and C)
they¹re less often in the exact same plane of reference.

I really think the offset...where it can be done, would provide the most
benefit.  Very easy to accomplish at most fields.

-M


On 9/26/07 10:43 AM, "Tony" <tony at radiosouthrc.com> wrote:

> Or we can go to less-rounds per event and fly one at a time.  They do that in
> Europe for exactly that reason.
>  
>  
> 
> Tony Stillman, President
> Radio South, Inc.
> 139 Altama Connector, Box 322
> Brunswick, GA  31525
> 1-800-962-7802
> tony at radiosouthrc.com
> 
> 
> From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
> [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Jay Marshall
> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 6:52 PM
> To: 'NSRCA Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Mid-Air discussion
>  
> I¹ll 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_/anchor/
> 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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