ORIGINAL: RC MANIAC119

And finally, I do apologize for missing the part where you walked down there. It was a rather confusing explanation of the facts...pilot A did this....Pilot B did that..........it was a litle hard to understand.

ORIGINAL: bkdavy

Since you asked for opinions, here's mine.

Membership status is irrelevant. You were flying, and had permission to do so.

The P-40 also had permission to fly.

As to the collision, the P-40, by your description, was flying essentially a constant course and speed. You on the other hand made a drastic change in course and speed with the vertical maneuver. Since you made the change in course and speed, it is your responsibility to ensure that the airspace you are maneuvering into is clear. Consequently, you were at fault. Had the situation been both planes flying constant course and speed from opposite ends of the field, fault would be equally shared.

Might I suggest that if you're going to be flying pattern maneuvers with multiple planes in the air, you really should employ a spotter to help you identify other planes. Talk with the spotter and announce your intended maneuvers before you make them. Allow them to help you identify if its unsafe.

I know that many flyers believe collisions in open air are an unavoidable risk, but I disagree with that mentality. I believe every pilot has a responsibility to everything in their power to avoid mid air collisions. For example, it would be good for clubs to adopt a standard practice that if two planes are approaching from opposite ends, the pilots should both break to the right to avoid collisions.

Brad

ORIGINAL: edh13

Hey I asked for opinions and all are welcome.

A little more clarification and history:
I’ve been flying for about 35 years on and off at various club sites any very busy rogue sites. Only had one other mid-air about 15 years ago when I sheared my Super Sportster’s wing off on a Eagle’s main gear. My plane hadn’t even hit the dirt yet and I was going over to help the guy with the Eagle. The whole time I was landing it for him I had to listen to he and the Field Commandant tell me what a jerk I was for hitting his plane. I was doing aerobatics and he was doing high orbits building time. I kept my mouth shut and packed up my pieces. He was flying again right after the epoxy (I gave him) hardened. I see where that mid-air the blame could have ridden more with me. He was inexperienced flying in circles and the hotshot jerk came and ran him over (under). I think I did offer an apology although their attitude bugged me.
And for this reason:
This hasn’t been brought up yet and it may not mean much but in both cases I was up first and for quite awhile doing nothing but fast, large, pattern type aerobatics. In fact in yesterdays case there were two of us up there trying to out do each other. The P-40 guy just like the Eagle guy figured it was safe enough to put his airplane up there in the middle of it.
I was aware of the 3rd plane in the air in fact I even knew it was the P-40. I caught glimpses of him and like everyone else does, “listened” to his position and tried to generally avoid it. But I have always avoided other acft by adjusting altitude not course. The “always turn right” method is fatally flawed and just silly. With model acft depth perception isn’t such that you would be able tell which plane is in front of the other. You could both turn “right” INTO each other. Sounds like a couple people have basically said the plane that had the last control input is at fault. So does that mean if you don’t move the controls during an impending mid-air you can never be blamed? Or since I pulled vertical I’m at fault. So this means the closer your nose is to level the less at fault you would be? I’m not sure what the P-40 was doing just prior to the crash. So I could only fairly report what I saw the split second before the hit. He could very well have just pulled level from a dive or been doing aileron rolls I don’t know. He could have changed his course to avoid me or not. I can’t say, so I won’t. I routinely push or pull elevator to avoid other acft. I didn’t do anything yesterday it happened too fast.
I guess my opinion boils down to; Regardless of the guy flying “aerobatics” and hitting the “straight and level” guy or the “straight and level” guy flying into the guy doing “aerobatics” neither of them thought they were going to hit each other and neither of them took the proper evasive action. And although it was hard to swallow neither of us outwardly blamed the other. It’s just a big air box out there shared by a few model planes. If all parties are doing what is allowed, I find it odd that someone would take a position one way or the other. But it seems to be also reflected in a few of these replies.

RC maniac – Uh…. I’m I to believe that I’m being admonished for a lack of manners by a member of the Profile Brotherhood? Crazy World….

1) No spotters are required for sport flying and are rarely used. I don’t know if the P-40 guy had one, if he did it didn’t help.
2) Yes…
A and B are the same thing and don’t deserve a response.

The only thing my gut told me was, it was lunchtime.

In your hurry to accuse, you skipped the part where it said I came down to his end of the pits to offer some words of concern over his loss of a nice P-40. A move that was not reciprocated. The P-40 guy and I talked a couple times post-crash actually. Myself and my 8 year old (a big WWII acft nut) were down there looking at it and talking to the guy pre-crash. I didn’t mention this earlier, but I didn’t think I would need to defend my character either, until "RC manners119" piped in.

ORIGINAL: CGRetired

Wilber and Moon doggie are totally on the mark. I've said it before and I'll say it again. There was no blame. Things happen and that's about it. As for an apology.. well, that implies guilt and there was no guilt. As Wilber said, maybe a 'Gee, I hope its not a total loss' because both pilots suffered a loss.. move on and build and drop it. It is not worth starting WW-III over, that's for sure.