"Gordon Schubert" wrote in message
...
Two gliderscoming in to the finish directly over the
runway. One at about 100 ft and the other at 150 ft.
The one at 150 ft is going about 30 knots faster than
the lower and flies over it just as the lower glider
is pulling up. Lower glider misses the one above by
approx. 5-10 ft. This happened directly in front of
me and probably 10 other people. It was mentioned by
Charlie Spratt at the pilots meeting.
GORDY

This brings up a point that I had not thought of......in a gate finish it is
possible to call others on the radio to report seeing them or to say that
you are "to the left side of the gate" or to say that you are overtaking
them and above, since it is in a focused area. With a cylinder finish there
is no way to really do this unless you see them directly. With numerous
finishes at the same time how would one report your position...."KC is on
the 240 radial to the finish center 4 miles out at 810 feet"??? I can hear
all of those type fixes being reported at a nationals with 30 finishes in 5
minutes. Oh ya.

Re the specific incident you report.....once again it was poor judgement and
pilotage on the overtaking pilots part. If the pilot that was being
overtaken called in at 4 miles prior to the other then it is the following
gliders responsiblity to locate him and if he does not see him then it is
his responsibility to report that. This is no different than what occurs at
nearly every controlled airport in the nation hourly. A gate at least
allows meaningful position fixes vs. the cylinder finish.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix