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Old May 15th 19, 04:37 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
danlj
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Posts: 124
Default Nearest near-miss?

On Friday, May 10, 2019 at 11:47:45 AM UTC-5, wrote:
The Transponder chatter on other threads got me to thinking about who’s got the closest near-miss? Thought I’d kick it off with my incident over 40 years ago. I was flying my homebuilt wooden sailplane over Mono Lake, Ca. Cursing south at 16000’ and 60 knots when I spotted a 4 engine jet below and to my left. Our flight paths were going to intersect, but he was a good 500 feet below me. Two seconds later it became crystal clear that it wasn’t a 4 engine jet, it was a 4 pod jet with 8 engines and the B-52 was climbing fast! Too late for me to maneuver,I’m doing 60 and he’s doing maybe 360, and I didn’t want to throw my belly to him. I just sat there thinking I had a front row seat to my demise! As he passed just under my nose, I could clearly see the copilot reading his checklist! I’m sure they never saw me, but I sure as hell saw them! I figured the wake turbulence was going to tear my little Duster to bits, so I tightened up my parachute straps. Nothing! Guess the turbulence all went below and behind him. How far can you see a man reading a book? I’ll lay claim at 50 Feet!
Let’s hear your story,
JJ


About 5 years ago, I was gliding along at 5000 msl, in cruise to the south, near KRNH airport on a lovely sunny afternoon. A piston twin suddenly flashed past about a quarter mile in front of me at 5000. I'd just settled down from that excitement when another did the same thing. I did have a transponder, but it was in 'off' mode due to excessive power consumption and low battery.

I mentioned this to a pilot, during a flight physical, who was also a controller at ZMP. She said, "Oh, you were near AGUDE intersection -- we bring all the IFR traffic from the east into the MSP Class A across AGUDE."

That winter John DeRosa re-did my panel, including ADS-B, and he got the total power consumption under 1000mA (not including transmission). It is satisfying inflight, and I've now got battery power to spare.

DrDan Johnson