Went out for a quick couple of flights before lunch today. It was my first trip out since new years day and it was a bit windy.
It takes me 3 - 4 flights to get comfortable when I havent flown for awhile, then I can start enjoying myself...

I took off and had made a couple of curcuits when one of the other pilots asked if it was ok to take off. I said ok and shortly I saw his .46 size glow trainer out of the corner of my eye. As it taxied it started to turn towards my pilots station. he was going right to left so I shifted to my right as far as I could go up against the fencing that seperates the pilots stations. ( the other pilot was 2-3 stations to my right )
Now he is still turning to the planes left and its coming around right at me, It was about 5 feet away from me when I had to take my eyes off of my plane and asses the situation! He was still turning left and coming straight at me, I dont know if it was full throttle but he wasnt slowing down... I stepped forward to avoid the prop and made a big jump step to get over the plane, my left foot caught the top of his wing tip and I stumbled but did not fall. Now I had to look up to see where my plane was... I was lucky and spotted it right away, flying straight down! I was lucky again as I still had plenty of altitude and was able to pull out... everyone ran over and asked if I was ok, which I was so I continued to fly my plane for awhile....

like I said, that was close, I cant believe I came out unscathed in that one...


Steve

Hop you jumped his a**!

Glad you weren't injured and saved your plane.

If that were at my field it would not have been an issue because our pilot stations are protected on 3 sides by chain link fence about 3 (maybe 4) feet high. Impossible for a ground incident like you just described. Maybe it's time for the club to pony up and protect you guys on the flight line. Time for a field upgrade project.

Funny you say that. yesterday was field clean up day and there was alot of discussion on how to upgrade all our fencing.
We discussed modifying the pilots stations like was mentioned so this cant happen..

steve

Was there a reason the pilot didn't have control over his airplane? Sounds like the pilot was being careless and didn't react like they should have.

Pilot error, rookie pilot did not react properly and he knows it.....

Pop

OMG, you need to tell him what the rudder is for[X(][:@]

We use that orange plastic construction fence tie-wrapped to PVC pipe frames for pilot stations. Barrier in front and back of the pilot set in larger PVC pipe to enable removal for mowing, etc.