Nearly Mid-Air Collision at Estrella

"Bill Daniels" wrote in message ...
"Todd Pattist" wrote in message
...
(Kirk Stant) wrote:

If I hear a powerplane (any kind!) while cruising and don't see him -
My response is to IMMEDIATELY throw up a wing and pull a hard S-turn.

I won't discourage you - but If he's close enough to hear,
he's pretty darn close. He's also likely to be wings level
and cruising, so by throwing your wing up, you are probably
increasing your relative impact cross section, which is
usually minimum when the wings are parallel and the paths
are parallel. It's not clear to me that I have enough time
to turn, spot the danger, and then maneuver to avoid. I may
be just turning into him. I have to admit I hate it when I
can hear a powerplane in cruise, but can't see it. What do
others do?


Actually, if you hear an airplane engine, it's likely that it is directly
below you where the sound can reflect back from the ground.

A pilot once told me a story about having cheated on cloud clearance to get
above the bases of a broken cumulus deck. Suddenly, he heard a large number
of big piston engines nearby. Looking in all directions, he couldn't locate
the source of the sound, but it seemed as if a large formation of
multi-engine aircraft would burst out of the clouds at any moment.

This went on for several minutes and he became more and more panicked and
confused since the aircraft making the sound should have passed by.
Finally, a break in the clouds allowed him to see an unlimited hydroplane
race underway on a lake below. Those hydroplanes were powered by V12
aircraft engines.

I'll now tell my near miss story.

Thermalling near Riverside California one day I say a small puff of smoke
off to the south. "That's strange", I thought as I continued to circle.
Next time around the ball of smoke was still there and it seemed bigger.
Several more turns in the thermal and the ball of smoke was getting very pro
minent and there was a black dot in the center of it.

The smoke was jet exhaust and the black dot turned out to be a B52 with me
in his crosshairs. As I dove for clearance, he passed less than 100 feet
above me. That was noisy.

Bill Daniels





Bill Daniels


I had two noteworthy near misses with military aircraft in my soaring
career, and in both cases, the military joks did spot me well before I
did.
1.) Back in Germany during a winch launch in a Ka-8. I heard the jet
noise come closer very fast but couldn't spot the jet. Keep in mind, I
was facing about 45° up during the climb. The Lockheed 'Star-Fighter'
passed me at my altitude on my left in a nearly 90° bank angle away
from me only to revert back onto his original flight pass by an
equally sharp manouver. I got a close-up glimps into the inner
workings of a jet engine from where I was - way too close. There had
been reports of jets colliding with gliders during winch launches or
just clipping the cables, if they were lucky.
In retrospect, I think what saved me was the fact that I was in a
steep climb putting the entire silouette of the Ka-8 into the sky.

2.) During the 2002 Nat.'s in Lubbock. I was flying together with a
S-10 south of the Cannon AFB. I had just left the thermal and went on
course, when I heard the jet noise come closer. A second later, a F-16
with the 'fuel-to-noise-converter' in re-heat performed a beautiful
vertical climb about 500ft in front of me and begun to circle around
with a lot of condensation clouds on his wings. I could clearly see
the pilot looking at my fine Libelle. I was more concerned about the
S-10 behind me: since the fighter pilot was fixed on me, he could have
run into the S-10.
I still wonder, how this guy found me, by his own radar or ground
radar, both? Anyhow, after circling around me twice, he went on to
sneak up on 'EY' and gave Tim McAllister a personnalized air show.

Scary situations, both with a good ending. I hope it stays that way.

U. Neumann
Libelle 'GM'