Mid airs though rare are a possibility every time you take off. Just as a motor stalling, servo failure, stuctural failure. In over twenty years of flying I have not had a midair. I have some close calls but As i fly my plane I use my periphial vision to watch for other aircraft. If they come in to my view a quick check of their flight path will indicate whether there is a possible problem or not. This takes practice to learn.

I have flown MANY COMBAT MISSIONS with towing ribbons. I have gotten many cuts but never midaired.

IMHO if you learn to also watch the other Aircraft in the air when they get close. YOU can prevent a midair by flying AHEAD of your airplane not responding in that moment. I always fly three to five seconds ahead of my plane. I know what I am going to do way before I do it.

There are guys that fly at the fields I fly at that when certain people go up I land immediately. I do not trust their flight skill so I want to be on the ground so I can watch them so if I have to run for cover I can.

In summary fly at your own risk. As far as that guy flying against the pattern established. I have seen this many, many times. I then have two choices. Land the plane or let him have the airspace and go real high until I can get an opportunity to land. I also yell loudly if I am going to land. If other guys pass it along the flight line then he should have the respect to give you the runway so you can land.

HI
with a mid air-NO ONE IS AT FAULTyou could not do that if you wanted to !! some things in the hobby ( crashing ) you just need to live withmost times the plane can be fixed to fly againit does hurt more when it is a new plane or one you like to fly a loti know a guy that has had 30 mid air's in a lot of years of doing this - and that was 10 years ago just my two cents -BEST REGARDS TONY

lablover; I would like to commend you on your attitude, sorry for the loss of your plane, Im verly new to this myself, haven't had a midair, yet, but I''m sure there's one in my future sometime, I was told by many experienced pilots to look at midairs the same as any crash, nobody wants a midair anymore than they want a crash, its part of flying, only real way to prevent them is to fly alone and for alot of people, including myself, that's just too boring and as Daddyo said, the odds are now in your favor

I once had a midair with two of my own planes!

I got this bright idea to tie a streamer on an old trainer I had my son flying, and I'd "attack" it with an Uproar I was flying. Dang if I didn't run into my own plane. Took me awhile to repair the damage on that deal.........

Would I do again? Probably.

Yup

yup

Mid-airs are no one's fault, almost by definition. You could argue that both pilots could have made evasive maneuvers. Just suck it up. I don't believe in payola when it comes to R/C. If you can't afford to crash (financially and emotionally) leave the plane in the car.

My club has no rules regarding patterns and such. Seems unnecessary to me. We have enough rules as it is. In my only mid-air, neither myself or the other pilot involved gave any thought as to who was at fault - it just happened; we were flying in opposite directions. We actually kidded each other about it. Definitely there were no hard feelings.

littlera

In the last fifteen years I have witnessed three midairs. One was the most devastating I ever seen. A sixty size Dirty Birdy flown by a friend of mine went nose to nose with a sixty size P-51 during an airshow. We never did find all the servos or one of the engines. The planes were completely destroyed. Parts rained down for a good five minutes.

Another was a royal p-51 hit a small electric plane. the p-51 managed to safely land with part of the wing covering of the electric still on the wing.

The funniest one was two guys flying electrics one was flying a slow stick and the other a small balsa plane of some type. Now these two were trying to hit each other. The balsa one finally hit the slow stick with its landing gear in the wing the wire cut into the soft foam wing and the two planes were stuck together. The two planes spun to the ground upright and hit softly. They separated the two planes and the owner of the slow stick put some tape over the gouge in the wing and they changed batteries and went at it again. Laughing hysterically.

Just suck it up.......Not sure if you read that I said I know S&*^ happens..I have no issues SUCKIN IT UP. I asked what the norm was. If you noticed it's in the beginner section. I do however appreciate your very intelligent answer to my stupid question

If it were me, I think I would have unleashed my NYattitude on him and see what happens after the dust settles. I would expect some sort of compensation. If the role was reversed and I caused damage due to my mistake or equipment malfunction, I would certainly fess up and offer some kind of restitution.

Mid-airs unfortunately happen. Unless it is a blatant disregard for rules, it is very difficult to lay blame, However, that does not stop people from incorrectly doing so.

I had one not too long ago, both planes were flying in the same direction, they were in an outside corner, one plane was descending to turn on final and my student's pane was ascending in an attempt to clear the airspace for the other pane to land. they collided. I was barely able to save my students plane due to the tail feathers being broke off and only being held on by the control linkages, and a big dent in the wing LE, the other plane was destroyed.

Although I got the blame for the mid-air, the description of what happened given later at a club meeting was completely inaccurate, I decided just to blow it off and told my student not to worry about it because nobody did anything wrong.

You have good days and bad days in this hobby. The OP simply had a bad day and should chalk it up to that. Anytime one is uncomfortable with a situation they have the opportunity to get out of it. Landing or flying farther out, flying higher, or lower. Spotters are a big help in crowded airspace.

Blame doesn't work here. Life isn't always about blame.

yeh lablover it's the same for most of us although you probably would have told him to forget it, it at least would've shown you some kind of respect besides a haphearty sorry i understand all i can say is don't give up the next time you see this guy come to the line land sit it out sooner or later people will start to ask "why" .
don't respond to some of these people that are trying to give you a hard time they just get a rise out of it . 

Thanks Riddler.

I think you hit the nail on the head. All being said, this guy as a friend is worth more to me than the darn plane. This was just a new experience for me and wanted to know what usually happens.

There are some exceptions to this "no-fault" idea.

One is when someone goes up when there are at least one or two in the "pattern", meaning as I described it earlier, goes up, and ignores such warnings as "LANDING" notification that we use at our field. The point is that before beginning the downwind leg, the pilot announces that he/she is about to do a downwind, followed by a turn to base, followed by a turn to final, followed by a landing.

When the aforementioned jerk ignores this and does something that puts his plane in peril, well, that peril goes two ways with his pocketbook being the main victim.. times two!!

This is an example of when someone can be blamed and, if I have anything to say about it, will pay. Period.

CGr.

hi
a more clear cut time to pay for anothers planeis when flying on 72 mghz and you turn on your tx with someone in the air and you take him to the ground- SO AVOID THAT AT ALL COSTSask me how i knowBEST REGARDS TONY

hey lablover i've been there matter a fact the last time was only a couple of months ago , i was just testing a combat plane with a new motor set up when a kid probably no more then 16 caught my wing and i spun in, i just gathered up my now junk got in the car and drove home.
it was later when a freind called that i found out the poor kids "new" plane had crashed into the gator pond so all i could do is laugh it off in the end ..........the end of the story i gave that darn kid the plane of mine he hit to show him no hard feelings. 

just keep it in the air and watch out for those darn landings and keep with this hobby in the end you'll enjoy this for the rest of your life . 

Our club requires that you fly a pattern determined by the direction of the takeoff, if more then one plane is in the air. I had a midair this summer and never saw it coming. It was really no ones fault. I do stay down when some pilots fly out of caution.

Well, Tony, that's not a mid-air. That comes under the heading of frequency control and all clubs should have some sort of frequency control that is practiced and enforced.

CGr.

Mid-Aires happen as well as any S&$t...what about the guy who turns on his transmitter and shoots you down, then sez "Sorry"? I have seen it happen and there is nothing you can do. You can file a law suit perhaps, take it out of his azz, or go home and watch the game. There is no air traffic control, no NTSB, just everyone taking the same risk when your wheels leave the ground.

lablover I am curious if your club has a similar rule? Our club has this rule as well. I have had some close calls and am curious about how our club handles this issue as well. Personally, I do feel that when a member is breaking the rules of the club, they should be responsible for the consequences.

Yes, we have that exact rule

I know I would be very unhappy if this happened to me. You might want to talk to a couple of the club officers about the incident to try to get a feel about how this should be handled. You will then have to make a choice about where you want to take it from there and where you want to fly in the future. Clubs are are very different and imperfect for sure. I am sorry for you loss, keep on going it will get better. Hopefully, it will be a long time before this happens again.

I wonder if the other plane had been destroyed instead would this still be an issue or would the OP have paid for the other guys plane?

I have witnessed at least 20 midairs and been involved in at least four not including racing and combat which would put the number at closer to 15. It is really hard to hit another plane when you are trying and doing it by accident is rare enough that I don't think you can asses blame. I wouldn't belong to a club where I had to fly around in circles all the time and I doubt many here would either.

Chalk it up to stuff happens and it's part of the game. Hearing one side of any story will guaranty you don't get the whole story.

Every field has some flyers which are unsafe or wild. When one of these guys at my field go up in the air, I immediately land my plane. I won't subject my plane to someone elses erratic flying style.

Considering the circumstances you claim, I would sue the guy who broke the pattern and caused the midair. You suffered damages by his negligence or inability to control his plane. When you bring that to court, you will win. Nothing, including this hobby, is lawsuit-free. The club can do nothing for you ... but the courts can!!

Yes, it was an accident. But it sounds as if the other guy was at fault for the accident.