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<TITLE>Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Mid-Air discussion</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>Offsetting the flight lines by 10deg where it can be done has a HUGE impact. That reduces the mid-air “zone” by about 80%. Spotters really aren’t all that practical. The few times that you can really “see” 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. It’s the head on collisions that no one sees that put both planes in the ground. There’s maybe .5 seconds to see it coming IF you were just looking for that, and there’s no way to react to that.<BR>
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IMAC events call avoidance more easily because A) the planes are flying MUCH slower, B) they’re MUCH bigger so it’s easier to gauge their depth and C) they’re less often in the exact same plane of reference.<BR>
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I really think the offset...where it can be done, would provide the most benefit. Very easy to accomplish at most fields.<BR>
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-M<BR>
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On 9/26/07 10:43 AM, "Tony" <tony@radiosouthrc.com> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>Or we can go to less-rounds per event and fly one at a time. They do that in Europe for exactly that reason.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>Tony Stillman, President<BR>
Radio South, Inc.<BR>
139 Altama Connector, Box 322<BR>
Brunswick, GA 31525<BR>
1-800-962-7802<BR>
tony@radiosouthrc.com<BR>
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<FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Tahoma"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'><B>From:</B> nsrca-discussion-bounces@lists.nsrca.org [<a href="mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces@lists.nsrca.org]">mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces@lists.nsrca.org]</a> <B>On Behalf Of </B>Jay Marshall<BR>
<B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, September 25, 2007 6:52 PM<BR>
<B>To:</B> 'NSRCA Mailing List'<BR>
<B>Subject:</B> Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Mid-Air discussion<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>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.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Brush Script MT"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:17.0px'><B><I>Jay Marshall</I></B></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'> <BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Tahoma"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>-----Original Message-----<BR>
<B>From:</B> nsrca-discussion-bounces@lists.nsrca.org [<a href="mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces@lists.nsrca.org]">mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces@lists.nsrca.org]</a> <B>On Behalf Of </B>Keith Black<BR>
<B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, September 25, 2007 5:48 PM<BR>
<B>To:</B> NSRCA Mailing List<BR>
<B>Subject:</B> [NSRCA-discussion] Mid-Air discussion<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>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: <a href="http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6409493/anchors_6413018/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#6413018">http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6409493/anchors_6413018/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#6413018</a><BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>If you'd just like to hear the idea I'll paste my RCU posting below:<BR>
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</SPAN><FONT SIZE="5"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'>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.<BR>
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. <BR>
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.<BR>
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!<BR>
Keith Black<BR>
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