H All,

Keith's email sums things very, very well and I came to the same bleek conclusion myself quickly. I think the most contructive points brought out of this thread are that with spotters or not, ensuring "two-way" communication takes place is the real key.

While the ideas Keith presented in the paragraph above state the boiled-down essential elements very well, it is the human elements like courtsey, judgement, well-maintained equipment, not taking needless risks, recognizing when folks have special events coming up, common sense, etc., that we ultimately rely on to help avoid this grim reality. While a Tiger Woods can stop in the middle of backswing when a flash goes off, I attempted to fly the rest of my sequence after he took off.

The next most important thing this thread brings out is that you need to know who you are flying with and regardless of whether you fit into a rotation or not, get a verbal committment before EACH FLIGHT if you feel your circumstances warrent a few minutes of alone time in the air...

Final Post on the matter.
Thanks,

Jim W.