WMAA News Letter Safety Notes

Well the flying season is winding down and some of the club members are even thinking of their return to Florida and parts south. Barb and I spent last weekend in Chicago with my daughter. I planed it just right. It was the weekend of the Air and Water Show. Something interesting and even a bit scary happened during the show. First let me tell you that there were one million people at the show each of the two days. The Saturday afternoon flight of the Thunderbirds was exciting.

They were putting on their low level show, it was cloudy and the ceiling was only about 6000 feet. At the start of the third pass, the 4 plane slow barrel roll, two of the planes touched. Yes right in front of us, number 3 and number 4, wings touched. The force was enough to cause the missile attachment point on the wing of the F-16 to come off and fall into Lake Michigan.

At that moment, they broke into two’s and flew out of the show air space. There were about a thousand or more boats on the water watching. The part fell into the water without impacting anything. There was an interview with the Major in charge of the team and he said the Sunday show was canceled for further investigation of the incident. Many were disappointed but what if the accident would have resulted in a crash. One or both of the planes could have easily ended in the water or some ware on the shore line dotted with a million people. This would have certainly been a disaster.

As I watched I was reminded of a rule in competition if you come it contact with a plane in competition, midair, you must land immediately. Another rule if a part falls of a plane you get a zero flight score and must land immediately. The show was designed to take place in an area over the water and no one was permitted in that area. Of course it was for safety. They did no flying over the spectators’ head.

At our field we have a similar situation. We should never fly over the spectators that is why we have the fences and signs keeping them out of the pit area. Now I don't want to make any enemies but I think we should use common sense when we plan our next paint ball shoot. First of all because the shooters are trying to disable the planes, the pilots, shooters and spectators should be protected is some way. A plane missing half a wing or rudder could go out of control and cause an injury. Remember our flight rules it something comes off the plane or it comes in contact with another plane or object for safety reasons you must land. Let’s give our next paint ball event some more thought. It can be done let’s make sure it’s safe. That’s something to think about.

The rest of the air show was great.

Safe flying is no accident! Mike Barbee