ORIGINAL: MHester
See my responses above. I really do think this begins to outline the problem, which I stated very early in this thread. I am NOT pointing fingers or making judgements (well ok except to the more socially challenged participants of this discussion) all I am trying to do is figure out how to avoid these kinds of things. But in order to do that, we have to know why it happens in the first place.
Let me say that no competitor I know feels any sense of entitlement to anything. We KNOW the sky is shared by us all, and we also know the risks when we take off. What happens after that can sometimes be out of our control.
So I ask again, why did he take off? Is it because he saw no risk, (in which case the outcome spells out that mistake), or because he really didn't know what Jim was looking for? Have you ever tried to practice when you have ONE plane in a high risk environment? If you say nothing, you're at risk. If you don't fly at all, you will not be adequately prepared for national competition. if you DO say something about needing airtime alone so as not to put your plane at unnecessary risk, you're "entitled" to something. You can't win.
Not unless everyone involved shows a great deal of respect for the other pilots, and they communicate CLEARLY. Looks like both of those areas were somewhat lacking, now wouldn't you agree?
Any time you fly a plane you take a chance. Whether it costs $50 or $50,000 it doesn't matter. But ALL of this can be (and could have been) avoided with some better communication and forethought.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.
Still I'm not passing judgements on either of the parties, just identifying problems.
-Mike
Mike I read you nice and clear, Glen took off because he used his judgement and felt it was safe. I for one have had to practice at Markham Park for Top Gun and unfortunately I do not have the luxury to do it at a private field most of the time so I have to roll my dice, either practice or just take a shot at the competition without practice.
Craig, Markham Park cannot post those rules because it's a public park and everyone has to use their own courtesy judgement. Markham park on a good day has 60- 80 pilots sometimes over 100 people so when we Jet guys see a window to fly when there's no trainers in the air we go for it. From the 15 minutes I spent talking with Jim he seemed like a guy with tons of knowledge and I would go up and feel safe with him alone in the air specially after watching him fly, UNLESS he wants and requests a solo flight.