close encounters of the aircraft kind: was Re: [RCSE] High Altitude Glider
At 11:27 AM 1/18/2005, Lighthorse wrote: I agree, There was one time that a Cesna was flying around our field watching my SB-XC in the air, after about 10 min. of his persistent fly around's of the field ( aprox 300+ acer's ) I landed, to me he was becoming a hazard, I fly in rolling hill country. Last season I was out by myself with a 2M. I had the plane wy up but not too far out and was puttering about when I heard a serious sound come up very quickly, I glanced over my shoulder and was looking right at a big radial-powered ag plane. The plane was just over the high spots of the hills heading right for where my plane was. I was much higher than he was. I quickly turned to a flight path perpendicular to his and started a shallow dive to get out of the area. I paint all my tail feathers a bright yellow for visibility. I know he saw my plane as he immediately corrected so as to go in the opposite direction to my plane. It was over all so very quickly. After that I heard him in the area, but he stayed very clear of the field I was flying from. Yet another test of the ol' adrenaline pump. Bill Johns RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
RE: close encounters of the aircraft kind: was Re: [RCSE] High Altitude Glider
Location is the key. I fly a beach slope which is close to two training airports. This means it has a steady flow of new, full scale pilots showing off their new skills but poor judgement. Usually, I hear them coming and can make a downwind dash back to the slope edge which leaves them a horizontal separation of several hundred feet. However, if I don't hear them coming (because they are idling to reduce altitude), there's not much I can do other than pull a high bank (for them to see me) and dive for the deck. That being said, I have been under flown several times while at an altitude of less than 500'.\ Phil in Vancouver ps: By the way, my hats are off to you guys that fly at Torrey Pines. Flown there once, don't think I ever do that again. I fly for fun not adrenaline. -Original Message- From: Bill Johns [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: January 18, 2005 2:09 PM To: soaring@airage.com Subject: close encounters of the aircraft kind: was Re: [RCSE] High Altitude Glider I fly in rolling hill country. Last season I was out by myself with a 2M. I had the plane wy up but not too far out and was puttering about when I heard a serious sound come up very quickly, I glanced over my shoulder and was looking right at a big radial-powered ag plane. The plane was just over the high spots of the hills heading right for where my plane was. I was much higher than he was. I quickly turned to a flight path perpendicular to his and started a shallow dive to get out of the area. I paint all my tail feathers a bright yellow for visibility. I know he saw my plane as he immediately corrected so as to go in the opposite direction to my plane. It was over all so very quickly. After that I heard him in the area, but he stayed very clear of the field I was flying from. Yet another test of the ol' adrenaline pump. Bill Johns web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: close encounters of the aircraft kind: was Re: [RCSE] High Altitude Glider
I occasionally fly at a farm that is about 20 miles from a local Air National Guard facility. They fly their A-10 Warthog training missions all around the local area, plus the farm is within the approach pattern for Westover AFB (they are very high on approach, no danger). Actually lots of my state, Connecticut, is close to airports of one sort or another and well within 150 miles of Newark, JFK and Boston. I had just caught several monster thermals in a row with my 3M Marauder and was flying from cloud to cloud with the plane well within sight but still pretty darn high. All of a sudden I heard a jet sound from behind me and see a pair of A-10's just below cloud height heading to where I was flying. I quickly pointed the plane to a safe patch of sky perpendicular to their direction of travel as the planes banked in unison. My heart was beating very quickly as I nervously porpoised the plane to safety. The A-10s made a very large turn (perhaps a 10 mile radius) out of my sight and came back over the field a few minutes later. They were low enough at this point that I could see the guys in the cockpit and the patches on their arms. My plane at this point was low enough that my time was divided between two activities - looking at the jets and also at my plane below the tree line. My main concern was for the pilots and not my plane so I did not get to wave to the pilots. I have always hoped that they were looking at me out of curiosity rather than not having seen me. I had not seen planes this low previously and have not seen any since after several years of flying at this location. Bill Johns wrote: I fly in rolling hill country. Last season I was out by myself with a 2M. I had the plane wy up but not too far out and was puttering about when I heard a serious sound come up very quickly, I glanced over my shoulder and was looking right at a big radial-powered ag plane. The plane was just over the high spots of the hills heading right for where my plane was. I was much higher than he was. I quickly turned to a flight path perpendicular to his and started a shallow dive to get out of the area. I paint all my tail feathers a bright yellow for visibility. I know he saw my plane as he immediately corrected so as to go in the opposite direction to my plane. It was over all so very quickly. After that I heard him in the area, but he stayed very clear of the field I was flying from. Yet another test of the ol' adrenaline pump. RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: close encounters of the aircraft kind: was Re: [RCSE] High Altitude Glider
Location is the key. I fly a beach slope which is close to two training airports. This means it has a steady flow of new, full scale pilots showing off their new skills but poor judgement. The local slope in Bellingham, Wa. is literally about 1/4 Mile from the end of the runway of the international airport! It is directly in the landing path of the runway!!! The tower is aware of the slope and just told them to stay under 200ft. if there is traffic. Traffic is hard to miss because it is coming straight at you This slope has been in use for over 15 years and there has never been an incident of any sort. I was flying on Orcas Island a few years ago at a site that is about 3/4 mile from the airport and there was an incident, The full scale pilot was completely at fault. He saw us, knew some of the guys flying and he intentionally buzzed the field at about 300ft. He got close enough to a model to realize the implications and then made a complaint to the airport later. They checked into it, but when they heard the entire story, they verbally chastized the full scale guy Mark Mech www.aerofoam.com RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: close encounters of the aircraft kind: was Re: [RCSE] High Altitude Glider
Used to fly at the Bellingham slope all the time... Great slope!! (But not much of a landing) And no real danger in that if the wind was on the slope, full scale traffic was taking off (into the wind) from the runway behind you, and always at a much higher altitude than the slope lift allowed you to reach. The only time traffic landed from the direction of the slope was when the wind was from the other direction, and hence, usually, unflyable for us. And in any event, as you said, you could see them coming for miles... Erich Merkel Colville, WA Phone: 509-684-0440 Cell: 509-680-1141 - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: soaring@airage.com Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 9:44 PM Subject: Re: close encounters of the aircraft kind: was Re: [RCSE] High Altitude Glider | | Location is the key. I fly a beach slope which is close to two training | airports. This means it has a steady flow of new, full scale pilots | showing | off their new skills but poor judgement. | | The local slope in Bellingham, Wa. is literally about 1/4 Mile from the end | of | the runway of the international airport! It is directly in the landing path | of the | runway!!! The tower is aware of the slope and just told them to stay under | 200ft. | if there is traffic. Traffic is hard to miss because it is coming straight | at you | This slope has been in use for over 15 years and there has never been an | incident | of any sort. | I was flying on Orcas Island a few years ago at a site that is about 3/4 | mile from the | airport and there was an incident, The full scale pilot was completely at | fault. | He saw us, knew some of the guys flying and he intentionally buzzed the | field at about 300ft. He got close enough to a model to realize the | implications | and then made a complaint to the airport later. | They checked into it, but when they heard the entire story, they verbally | chastized | the full scale guy | | Mark Mech | www.aerofoam.com | | RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format | | RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send subscribe and unsubscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
