HUD view of a near-miss

On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:11:34 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote:

Roger wrote:
On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 18:11:15 -0500, "Darkwing"
theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:


wrote in message
. net...

Here's a very close call as recorded through the HUD camera of a T-38C.
Scott Wilson
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=qLVtstYAZLY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLVtstYAZLY


That was about as close as it gets without aluminum scraps flying.


It can get closer.
Many years back as a student I was landing a Piper Colt on 36. A
Comanche was flying the express way East to West. The end of 18/36 is
about as close to the road as it can get. That would put me at 300
feet or less at that point. There is an over pass about a city block
to my left (West).
The Comanche not only went under us and had to pull up a bit for the
over pass, he put the top of his vertical stab less than a foot below
us. I had this flash and the impression of looking at rivets.
He was past us before either the instructor or I jumped and we have
fast reaction times. The speeds may have been way less, but the mess
would have been just about as bad.

How did you measure the distance with such accuracy?

When you happen to be looking at the spot out the window and the top
of the stab is about a foot below your butt most any one can guess
that close. I'd guess about 9 out of 10 could come within a few
inches of getting it right. It's like a flash photo. You just see the
image.

Even if I missed it by 100 % he'd only be two feet below , or scraping
paint..



Matt
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Roger wrote:
On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:11:34 GMT, Matt Whiting
wrote:


Roger wrote:

On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 18:11:15 -0500, "Darkwing"
theducksmail"AT"yahoo.com wrote:



wrote in message
.net...


Here's a very close call as recorded through the HUD camera of a T-38C.
Scott Wilson
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=qLVtstYAZLY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLVtstYAZLY


That was about as close as it gets without aluminum scraps flying.


It can get closer.
Many years back as a student I was landing a Piper Colt on 36. A
Comanche was flying the express way East to West. The end of 18/36 is
about as close to the road as it can get. That would put me at 300
feet or less at that point. There is an over pass about a city block
to my left (West).
The Comanche not only went under us and had to pull up a bit for the
over pass, he put the top of his vertical stab less than a foot below
us. I had this flash and the impression of looking at rivets.
He was past us before either the instructor or I jumped and we have
fast reaction times. The speeds may have been way less, but the mess
would have been just about as bad.

How did you measure the distance with such accuracy?


When you happen to be looking at the spot out the window and the top
of the stab is about a foot below your butt most any one can guess
that close. I'd guess about 9 out of 10 could come within a few
inches of getting it right. It's like a flash photo. You just see the
image.

Even if I missed it by 100 % he'd only be two feet below , or scraping
paint..

Most people couldn't estimate a foot if the airplanes were stationary
with one held above the other by a crane. You definitely can't estimate
distance with this precision at the closing speed of two aircraft,
unless they are flying in formation. :-)

Matt

On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 23:01:22 -0800, "Mike Kanze"
wrote:

During the run-in for our third or fourth pass, some bozo in a 172 comes toodling north right across our run-in line about 500' below us. We saw him and pulled up just as he passed under our big A-6 nose.

Similar incident: I had a student doing strafing runs at Yankee Target
west of NAS Chase. We had just rolled in and was about 2 seconds away
from trigger time when this Cessna 206 flew right through our sights
at an estimated 100' AGL. I called "abort" and we pulled off target.
Lead rolled in on him to get his number but he had none!

Another opportunity lost - dude was probably running drugs (he was
headed northeast) and would have served him right if he had been a few
seconds later and gotten a cockpit full of inert 20mm!!!!!!!!

John Alger USN(ret)
1972-1997 // 1310,1320
TA-4J, A-7E, EC-130Q, P-3B