Here's a pic of the result of a recent mid-air. The Battle axe is one tough plane. I landed with the other guys prop stuck in the wing. The pic isnt staged or altered .

I thought it was pretty cool !

Been there done that, got the tee shirt. What else you got? You guys interested in flying any AMA regulation combat out there?

Here's the "engine in wing" shot from a few years back. And I just left my own prop blades in a local guy's avenger wing this weekend.

That's wild !

....Gee, the tales we could tell.
Every midair is fully laden with mixed emotions, and how it missed a hair from getting that cut.

I like the ones were 2 planes have to be untangled from each other[>:]

Scott

Not after all he repairs, time and again! This is a major drawback of combat air fight (flight) and in the end will not compensate the andrenaline rush.
In keeping the (whatever) class alive, we need unendless pilot support. A contradiction in terminus as it can be called. You want the cake, eat it, and be hungry forever after.
Combat is an extraordinary experience, be it just 4 kicks or 4 competition. I know t makes my 64 yrs heart sing,but repairs are killing me.

Eric, that's a nice pic! Glad you guys are having good times with the AXE's!

Once I had a mid-air, flew a couple more minutes, and landed with a guy's battery hanging out of my wing by the battery lead. Think it was Darin S's battery, at Tuscaloosa a couple of years back. That was the hottest contest I've ever been to. By the end of the contest, everyone was taking a 15-minute break between flights!

Awesome pictures, guys. I've been flying a phencepost for the past month or so. I had a midair with a ripper this past weekend. I was able to glide back to the runway with only a broken prop. I was using a nut driver to loose the spinner on plane when I discovered ithe spinner was packed full of foam beads. Needless to say, it wasnt pretty when the ripper was retreived.

I'll be at the PBRCA field Sunday with a Matador and an ancient Veco Renegade.

Well, I did it again....twice today ! Two mid-airs. The first one resulted in the other guys rudder getting knocked-off (I had no damage) and the 2nd one was rather dramatic. We hit full speed, about as head-on as you can get. Battle Axe VS. Battle Axe ! Knocked both of our wings clean off and we both lawn darted the fuselages. Given the severity of the crash both airplanes are repairable and mine is even ready to test-hop tomorrow.

Are mid-airs this common or is it me ?? Seems I'm having more mid-airs than cuts [X(] Are there any combat flying tips that you guys can give me to help hit the streamers VS. mid-air ? I'm not intentionally trying to hit the other guy - it just seems to happen suddenly. I'm starting to think were doing it wrong.... This is with only 3 planes in the air too - I cant image surviving with 5-6 planes fighting....

Eric,

Mid-airs are commonplace in combat. Luckily the planes are built tough (as you've seen!) so it's usally a matter of a 5-minute fix and you're back in the air.

One thing that will make a huge difference is flying the same direction as your opponent. If you make a lot of head-to-head passes, you have a very brief second of opportunity to cut the other guy's streamer. If you try to pursue him from behind, you have a lot longer to line up on his streamer, and mid-airs are at slower closing speeds when you're moving the same direction.

This video is probably zoomed in a little too far for to see the pursuit, but you can kind of see how he tries to turn into the other planes' paths. The best approach is to get behind someone and turn just inside of them. http://www.treneffrc.com/videos/Tim%...ats%202006.wmv

No matter what you do, mid-airs will happen. It's part of the sport, and usally fixable. Get out there and have some fun! [8D]

Alex

I aim for the rear of the other guys plane, he is normally gone by the time I get there
but sometimes his streamer is still there

I averaged 1 midair a night this year (rookie year) but was able to do controled landings
from all of them, and most (all but one) I was able to continue in the fray.

By my reckoning, you own that engine now....

Alex,

Good tip - although it seems pretty obvious, if i look back on my flying style I seem to be trying to intersect the streamers VS. chase them....Also, I need to work on my periferal vison - I tend to focus on my plane too much.

Since mid-airs are pretty common I added some appropriate grapics

Eric

That's a sharp looking Battle Axe you have there, Eric! Nice graphics! [8D]

I think there's basically a progression flying combat.

At first, you don't have any depth perception, and you spend a lot of time flying around behind or in front of everyone else (usually behind though). At this stage, there aren't many cuts, but there aren't many mid-airs either. Some guys skip this or go past it quickly because they have good natural depth perception and are used to placing their model where they want it.

After that, your depth perception gets better, and you can "see" one other plane besides your own. At this point, you start getting cuts, but you really start getting a TON of mid-airs, especially in SSC. The mid-airs are there because you can get your plane to the same depth as the other guys, so you spend a lot more time a lot closer to the other models in the air. And in SSC, the planes are slow and turn tightly, so they stay in the same area most of the time, and that means a lot of mid-airs.

After you've been flying for a bit, you start to recognize what the other guys are doing in the air, and you can watch multiple planes at a time, watch traffic and see where they are going. You can predict where a plane will be, and most importantly, you start flying "around" the other planes, making moves to avoid mid-airs and set up at the same time. The key thing is that you can see where another plane is going, and you can see bad angles like head-on approaches coming, and get out of the way.

Some guys pretty much skip the first, and some guys never quite manage to get to the point where they can see the whole sky and follow and avoid multiple planes at once.

Personally, when I want to cut someone in SSC, I don't fly towards them, instead I fly around them, so that I come around behind them. Flying directly towards a plane you want to cut is a great way to get a head-on mid-air, but not a great way to score cuts.

Also note that there are two different styles of flying combat. Some guys "furball" while other guys fly persuit. Personally, I'm mostly a persuit pilot, so I pick a target and chase them until I get a cut. Furball pilots will generally hang out in one part of the sky and wait for someone to get near them (usually circleing in the middle), then make a quick adjustment for a cut.

And finally, I notice that you said you're trying to intercept streamers, I assume that means cutting through them at a sharp angle. It usually is easier to get behind someone then turn with them and go through the streamer when they turn.

Check out pictures 4-18 on this page

I wasn't involved, but I was there to see it. Both engines were running wide open the whole way down - spinning around like a demented helicopter.

link no work for me? :-(

That's what I was gonna say, do you get to keep whatever is attached to your fuselage after an engagement? [&:] That would certainly make it more interesting, and compensate for the repairs!!