In this issue of High Flight you will find the revised IMAA Safety Code and Inspection Form. Please take time to familiarize yourself with each of these documents. Feel free to copy the documents for your fun-flys and personal use. The Safety Code has been simplified and pertains only to mandatory items with a section on recommendations. The Safety Inspection change pertains to legalities of the inspector.

Mike Bolline, of Auburn, KS, contacted me with concerns about the duties of a spotter / pilots helper. Mike writes:

"Something that has bothered me ever since I started flying the large aircraft has been the lack of importance given to the role of spotter.

I've seen the spotters looking at something back in the pits or talking with others and not even watching the aircraft in the pattern. The job was never explained to me and I haven't seen it explained to anyone else either. At the fun-flys I've attended it has never been mentioned during the pilot's meetings.

I have watched people take off and immediately pull vertical, right in front of an aircraft coming down initial.

Some clubs have tried to improve safety by requesting that vertical maneuvers be performed in the center of the racetrack. But there is a problem with depth perception. Most people think they are in the center, when they are actually in the middle of the downwind leg.

I constantly talk to my pilot and let him know where the other aircraft are located and what they are doing. If he has initial all to himself or if an aircraft is behind and gaining on him and whether he has time to execute a loop or a maneuver which will not put the two aircraft in the same spot at the same time. He will tell me what maneuver he is going to execute and I clear him to make the aerobatic maneuvers and if he doesn't have the time/distance, I tell him so!

I find that I am busy while working as a spotter and it isn't a time for idle chatter. There is also the responsibility to pull the pilot out of harm's way in the event of an out-of-control aircraft approaching.

I've seen people up there without a clue of what's going on and what's important and therefore see this as a safety issue that hasn't been properly identified."

Mike brings up some very good points. Spotting is a job that has the responsibility shared by both the pilot and the spotter. If the spotter is not doing his job, it is the pilot's responsibility to ask the spotter for the information he needs. It is also important for the pilot to inform the spotter of his intentions.

What are some of the tasks of a spotter?

• Assist the pilot in starting the airplane.
• Check the pattern for any planes in the landing pattern.
• Inform other spotters of your pilot's intention to take off.
• Inform the pilot when it is safe to enter the runway and proceed with take-off roll.
• Inform the pilot of general traffic situations - is the planes flight path clear of other planes and situations.
• Help the pilot paint a mental picture of the general traffic flow.
• When the pilot desires to do a maneuver, check the traffic, taking into consideration the traffic flow after the maneuver is completed.
• Give the pilot the go-ahead to perform the maneuver.
• Inform the pilot of any deviations his plane has taken from the traffic pattern.
• Inform the pilot of the duration of flight.
• When the pilot desires to land, check the traffic pattern.
• Inform the other spotters of desires.
• Again check the traffic pattern as well as the aircraft on the ground waiting to depart.
• Give the pilot the go-ahead to land when clear.