"zac.badenoff" wrote in message
...
Jeff wrote:

snip

Apparently, we were inside someone else's practice are, because we got
to fly some formation maneuvers with a Piper who liked our airspace. We
safely snuck behind him, but I still don't think he ever saw us.
jf

snip

Pardon me for jumping into this thread, but the paragraph above left me a
bit shocked. At no time did either of you think to *contact* this
aircraft, to advise the pilot that you were in *his* vicinity?

If he suddenly performed a steep turn, or any extreme direction change,
how would that have affected your position?

I was under the impression that *see and be seen* was paramount for safety
in the air?

Anyway .. nice story otherwise.

__
zb

I was about to contact him when he turned away from us. We were really
never that close, but there was a time he stopped "moving" in my windshield,
so I opted to turn towards where he'd been (behind him) and keep a close eye
as we past above and behind him. I'm terrible at determining distance
plane-to-plane. We were close enough to get my attention, but never so
close that I felt like there was a real problem (of course I'm just the
student here ).

As for the "hostility", please don't judge this group by a few posts! These
guys have helped me immensly in the years I've been lurking here. Great
guys who go out of their way to help (and even give out free beer a few days
prior to Oshkosh (and even some during)). Hang around here a while. It's a
great place to be. there are just a few posters who like to cause problems
and have more than worn out their welcome with some folks (ok...most folks).

jf