Mid air

Two well known pilots were killed on Monday in South
Africa as a result of yet another mid air collision.


There have been 3 midairs with fatalities in the past
month and about 8 in the past year or so.

Guys, we need to face facts, we are doing something
very badly wrong! I have heard about more mid-airs
in the past year or so than in all the years ( 20 or
so in my experience ) before.

I suggest we do something about it. I am growing increasingly
concerned about this threat and I think we all should
be. Offshore sailing is starting to look increasingly
attractive given the sharp rise in this kind of accident.

Ian Molesworth

Almost got run over twice last saturday myself. First by the tow plane cutting
inside on base, then by a 232 coming from behind and under the right wing of
the 103. The L19 guy had a short between the headset, and the 232 wondered how
I magicaly appeared at his11on short final.

Sad news again. The only explanation of this trend
is that we spend too much time fiddling with instruments
and computers. PDAs linked to GPS etc and other
instrumentation can easily take too much attention!!

Keep looking out!

Nils



Ian Molesworth wrote:
Two well known pilots were killed on Monday in South
Africa as a result of yet another mid air collision.


There have been 3 midairs with fatalities in the past
month and about 8 in the past year or so.

Guys, we need to face facts, we are doing something
very badly wrong! I have heard about more mid-airs
in the past year or so than in all the years ( 20 or
so in my experience ) before.

I suggest we do something about it. I am growing increasingly
concerned about this threat and I think we all should
be. Offshore sailing is starting to look increasingly
attractive given the sharp rise in this kind of accident.

Ian Molesworth

According to my experience I look much more outside since I use GPS+PDA
combo. It's much easier to concentrate on the real flying.
There were midairs far before GPS and PDAs....
Regards,

/Janos


Nils Hoeimyr wrote:

Sad news again. The only explanation of this trend
is that we spend too much time fiddling with instruments
and computers. PDAs linked to GPS etc and other
instrumentation can easily take too much attention!!

Keep looking out!

Ian,
Find a copy of Adlard Coles "Heavy Weather Sailing" and see if you still
think offshore has less risk potential.
Any news about how it happened?
Cheers!
"Ian Molesworth" wrote in
message ...
Two well known pilots were killed on Monday in South
Africa as a result of yet another mid air collision.


There have been 3 midairs with fatalities in the past
month and about 8 in the past year or so.

Guys, we need to face facts, we are doing something
very badly wrong! I have heard about more mid-airs
in the past year or so than in all the years ( 20 or
so in my experience ) before.

I suggest we do something about it. I am growing increasingly
concerned about this threat and I think we all should
be. Offshore sailing is starting to look increasingly
attractive given the sharp rise in this kind of accident.

Ian Molesworth

In article ,
Nils Hoeimyr wrote:

Sad news again. The only explanation of this trend
is that we spend too much time fiddling with instruments
and computers. PDAs linked to GPS etc and other
instrumentation can easily take too much attention!!

Keep looking out!

Nils




I am sure I spent more time looking inside with paper charts, etc. than
I do with my PDA system. I fly a Libelle which has very limited cockpit
space. It used to be a quite a distraction trying to manipulate
sectional charts and whiz wheel calculators and to find a place to stow
them out of the way.

To avoid clutter and distraction, I have streamlined my GPS/PDA system
to have no cables loose in the cockpit and the PDA installed firmly on
the panel. The GPS (Volkslogger) is stowed on the barograph shelf. I
hardly touch the PDA in flight (unless the software hangs up and I have
to reset). I sometimes carry a backup GPS in the side pocket, but so far
I've never needed it.

60 foot swells off the coast of Southern Africa in a Peterson 33 ( gale
force wind running counter to a 5 knot Mozambique current ) are a reasonable
introduction to the lesser 'joys' of sailing Pete :-)

Another thread has mentioned 7 mid air fatalities in a few months, if the
reader as a pilot is not seriously concerned about these figures s/he should
be!

If we are not careful big drother will be along in a minute banning more
than one aircraft per thermal.

Ian


"Pete Reinhart" wrote in message
...
Ian,
Find a copy of Adlard Coles "Heavy Weather Sailing" and see if you still
think offshore has less risk potential.
Any news about how it happened?
Cheers!
"Ian Molesworth" wrote in
message ...
Two well known pilots were killed on Monday in South
Africa as a result of yet another mid air collision.


There have been 3 midairs with fatalities in the past
month and about 8 in the past year or so.

Guys, we need to face facts, we are doing something
very badly wrong! I have heard about more mid-airs
in the past year or so than in all the years ( 20 or
so in my experience ) before.

I suggest we do something about it. I am growing increasingly
concerned about this threat and I think we all should
be. Offshore sailing is starting to look increasingly
attractive given the sharp rise in this kind of accident.

Ian Molesworth

There's another thread or two below this one where I reviewed the events
leading up to and following the fatal mid air collision that happened here
in the Seattle area. I was able to bail out in time and hope my experience
can be helpful in saving the lives of others and preventing this kind of
accident in the future.

Paul

"Ian Molesworth" wrote in
message ...
Two well known pilots were killed on Monday in South
Africa as a result of yet another mid air collision.


There have been 3 midairs with fatalities in the past
month and about 8 in the past year or so.

Guys, we need to face facts, we are doing something
very badly wrong! I have heard about more mid-airs
in the past year or so than in all the years ( 20 or
so in my experience ) before.

I suggest we do something about it. I am growing increasingly
concerned about this threat and I think we all should
be. Offshore sailing is starting to look increasingly
attractive given the sharp rise in this kind of accident.

Ian Molesworth