Safety and the Miller center
I know that sometimes it can feel crowded in a gym, and people need space. I noticed in the video that Al posted, there were some fellas along the wall that the scoreboard is on. I think that we should keep to using the 2 walls that we have been in the past, and leave that far wall free. Please try and stay on the bleachers side wall, as well as the wall with the waterfountain. I'd hate to see someone get hurt. There is plenty of space to spread out along those 2 walls. Thank you,
John
As far as possible solutions,
Maybe bringing a longer extension cord and running it from the side outlet back towards the pitts would compact people towards the door end.
Maybe look at how we can rotate so that the pitts are along the side (like Barre has done recently) giving a longer pit and area to spread out.. however I think this setup would make the space feel smaller.
I know I was only there once, but I agree with you both. I see a possible solution, usually fits any airfield. designated pilot stations, and making sure pilots abide by the rule... some colored tape
should help. don't move out of the pilot station, anyone working on planes at the tables don't walk into flight path... Food for thought.
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Thanks Tony, but I dont think the answer can be as simple as that. While the flight stations idea could work for flying foamies, and the vapor pilots, the problem lies in that most people don't want to fly a little mSR more than 5-7 feet away from them. and when you get 2-5 people all trying to fly micro heli's at the same time being close in one spot like that just doesn't work.
In my Opinion (and I'm open to ideas), our situation is too dynamic to say "you stand here, and fly there" I think there just needs to be an increased awareness to the type of craft flying, and choose when to fly, and when not to fly. Or if you have different types of planes / heli's choose the appropriate type for the pattern being flown. Taking a 33" foamie up when there are 3 micro heli's and two ember/vapors up might be a bad idea.
It kinda goes back to what my dad was talking about at our field last summer, when someone is up trying to fly knife edge passes, its probably a bad time to take a heli up and hover over the runway.. I really think some general awareness and common courtesy of letting others get their time in can solve most of these issues.
Again I agree with what you say, but this is mostly for awareness. I was forcing the idea that only four fly at a time and that the boundries force people into an easier flight pattern, and its just not so chaotic (no one gets caught standing in the pattern). I think we are on the same page. As people file in and the plane/heli congestion increases, there should be a "official" blowing the organizational whistle. Maybe the station on the end is heli only. Our flight times are a max of 5 minutes anyway (at least the cpx's are)....
Unfortunately we are the only two discussing, but more will see later I'm sure, and again it gets everyone aware, which is what I think John was after....
I'll be glad to join the discussion. There is no possiblity of using the side with the bleachers or the corner near the bleachers on Sunday afternoon as the sun coming in the windows on the wall across or to the left blinds the pilots. I also agree that power is a problem because there are few plugs on the walls. Perhaps that problem can be solved by separating the pit areas from the charging areas. However, that does not really solve the larger safety issue. I would agree that separating the times that large and tiny planes fly would reduce the number of air to air collisions. Those tiny planes are tough to see when you are on the other end of the gym concentrating most on not hitting a wall, the floor, or ceiling at a relatively fast speed. Pilot safety is a more difficult issue. If the large planes fly only at specified times, then perhaps other pilots can congregate behind the pilots flying. Is there a possiblilty of using a separate room to repair planes? If you are fixing a plane you certainly are not flying a plane. There is a price to pay for restrictions as flying time will be reduced.
When we are there, can we use the other "side" room where we get the tables from if no one is in there? Some tables with power can be there for such use, and he Gym can be a fly only zone? as far as times, no problem, next time we go, we can look at options, and get opinions. I try to let the small stuff fly alone, and if I see a break, I fly. It's common courtisy to let others fly, and we are usually good about that. Tony is correct, I am trying to push awareness, I just dont want someone to get hurt. Those walls come up quick. I am attending a fun fly in Gilford NH at the Gilfor community center, and will see how they do things as well. Russ Walker flies there with his club 2 times a week. I will be going down on a tuesday at noon, flying starts at 7, and goes untill 11pm. I will see what they do as well, and get some ideas from them.
- If you step over the line, you are in the flight path, be prepared to duck.
- If there are too many planes in the air, don't fly.
- If you are hogging the airspace, take turns.
If you need a reminder, we have this:
Yup, I think that about sums it up. I really just want only 2 walls used for people standing. If there is power issues, we can adress that with extention cords. The line mark speaks of is the "blue" (i think) line under the basketball hoop on the waterfountain side. We can go over this next time if there is a need.
Nice video Mark. I think that is what it would be like if you hit someone with the Sebart!
I too agree that a better safetly plan should be implemented,
I think there are a few factors at play of why people spread out like they do, there seems to be lulls where many people all pull out their micro heli's all at once. When that happens it is nice to kinda claim a corner as you can really only have 2 on the short sides, and 1-2 down the long side if there are people on the short end so people use both sides of the gym to space out. Also when Foamies are flying they usually turn before that last 10-15 feet, this creates a zone where a micro heli can fly with less chance of coming into contact with the foamie, however does place the pilot at risk of being hit by the foamie. I feel it is safe so long as its just micro heli's, but when the Foamies come out being on the far side of the "pits" is not a safe place to be.
I think the problem of people being on different sides was increased by the sun on Sunday's FF, for the first hour you needed to stand on the left as you walk in to get the sun out of your eyes, but everyone is also used to flying from the right side so some people dealt with the sun, others didn't.
The other thing that splits people is Power. While Al and myself bring power strips / extension cords People still want to use the power on the side and opposite end to get away from the tangle of cords. We also dont know just how many chargers we can chain off that one outlet without tripping the breaker.
This post wasn't meant to offer a solution, but hopefully it highlights the bigger problems that the safety plan needs to address. As more people start to attend (almost double from what we started with last year) finding a way to manage all the air traffic might become necessary. Foamie pilots might need to learn to wait so people flying vapors/embers and micro helis have some air space, and vice versa. There were certainly some times last FF that it was kinda hectic in the air trying to dodge people.