High Speed Passes & the FAA

We call our location and speed eg:10k 120 the mill, 5k 130 bombay gardens,
1k vne stevees quarry, this works on airfields we know ,
simply institute a location/reporting point that everyone knows or has been
designated which gives an immediate heads up response by the pilot
"someone is near me" where is he?
"JJ Sinclair" wrote in message
...
Hi Casey,
How's that LS-8, I sold you? Your not doing low passes with it, are you?

Just because we havent had a disastrous accident near the finish-line,
doesn't
mean we never will. I look at the threat it poses. Many sailplanes headed
for
what I call a *scheduled mid-air collision*. What the hell is that, you
ask?
Its the same place (finish-line), Same altitude (50feet), the only thing
that's not scheduled is the time. We have narrowed that down by telling
everyone to be back in 3 hours (ups, 3:15 now with the +15 thing) So now
we
have most of the guys coming in low and fast, all headed for the same spot
and
shooting for the same altitude and close to the same time. The guys are
good
aviators and the guys in the nationals are REAL good aviators, but they
are all
focused on the finish line and quite busy; Don't go below 50 feet, Don't
go
above red-line, Dump the water, Don't forget to dump the tail tank, Don't
lose
sight of the guy in front of you, Ups, didn't page up on the GPS, to get
altitude & distance together. What was that altitude correction factor?
WHOA,
we almost hit the ground, STOP playing with the GPS. Which way are they
landing? No wind sock out here. Haven't heard anything on the radio, am I
on
the right frequency? There's an AWOS tower out here somewhere? What's that
shadow moving over me?......................................Crunch!

I see the collision at Bridgeport as a scheduled mid-air also. Only in
this
case, the last variable was altitude. Both started at the same time, so
approaching Bridgeport at about the same time isn't out of the question.
The
point was the same, Bridgeport. Chance, or the altitude gained in the last
thermal (shared?) was the final parameter that was met on that tragic day.

My real point in the post was, I think we are breaking FAR's and I think
we
should do something about it. Now before all the guard house lawyers jump
me,
allow me some more outlandish statements;

1. The situation I described could be called an Air Show. The FAA has very
specific rules about what is allowed and where it is done in an air show.
Who
wants to argue (in court) that its not an air show, its just our way to
let our
macho-crocho's display their stuff.

2. Some have said to simply move the finish line. Well, it must be fairly
close
to the runway or we won't be able to get back there after our low altitude
air
show. Besides, the macho-crocho's need an audiance. Who's going to see
them way
out there in the weeds?

3.Some pull-ups I have seen, meet the FAA definition of aerobatics, and
that
opens up a whole new can of whip-ass the Federallies may bring to bear on
our
little contest.

4. If we make the 500' / 1 mile finish cylinder, MANDATORY, all issues
with the
FAR's will be dealt with.
JJ Sinclair

goneill wrote:

We call our location and speed eg:10k 120 the mill, 5k 130 bombay gardens,
1k vne stevees quarry, this works on airfields we know ,
simply institute a location/reporting point that everyone knows or has been
designated which gives an immediate heads up response by the pilot
"someone is near me" where is he?

The last time I watched a contest organized at our airfield, there was a rule
that any finisher must call by radio when he was at 10km and then at 1 minute,
and say his intention (low pass or direct landing), and wait for an answer
from the contest director allowing him to do so or directing him to do something
else.