Aircraft playing silly sods
 

Am I getting cranky in my old age, or was this a bit of silly thing to do?:

Flying to Clacton today (delightfully short strip... not sure about having a public footpath across the runway!), became aware of 'traffic' off to one side. Seemed to be manoeuvring , so I guessed it was prob an instructed lesson or a some sightseeing so I made my presence clear with a quick, shallow s-turn to show my full profile and carried on on the same track I'd been on for the last 20 minutes.

Strangely, the a/c then continued to carry out shallow turns, some away and some towards me. Enough for me to keep a pretty beady eye on said punter, anyway.

Then, my friend decided to turn in behind me and follow me, while still turning all the time. They were faster than me (what isn't faster than a club-owned 152?) and were gaining ground, forcing me to keep an eye by looking over my shoulder through the rear windows!

Now, I can't believe that said punter hadn't seen me and, while I never felt that we got dangerously close (couldn't see registration, for example), their fairly random manoeuvring made me feel a little uncomfortable, particularly as they were able to gain on me when I wasn't convinced I hd been spotted... After about 5 mins, they turned away and continued same sort of activity well over to my side, where I could more easily check on separation.

I'm not much of a catch, so I can't believe 'kiss chase' was the order of the day...

Like I say, was I being a stick-in-the-mud or was this a strange way to behave!

Anyway, lovely day for flying, all in all!

Hersh

Oooh, you should have taken the bait; whacked on 60 degrees of bank for a tight 180 and a short reciprocal-heading fly. Then positioned behind HIM. See how he likes it:)

SSD

He/she has probably been watching too many B.o.B movies "daga-daga-daga". I too had a brief encounter the other day with a glider. At least you spotted it and could take appropriate action. :ok:

I would have trimmed it out nicely, undone my seat belt, climbed in the back, undone my trousers and given him a full moon up against the rear window.

(A slight forward bias on the trim before carrying this out would be advised to allow for the change in C of G whilst performing this manoeuvre)

The chap who taught me to sail pointed out that it is not enough for you to know what you are doing, but that you need to act in manner that shows others you know what you are doing.

In this instance, if the other pilot had seen you, he should have flown in such a way to ensure you knew his intentions.

Sounds like you witnessed a less than shining example of airmanship.

HB

Just had to check date as I had the same thing a few days ago in the same area as I usually turn money into noise from Andrewsfield and heading towards Clacton got the feeling something was amiss and after a turn to check found was being trailed by an aircraft about 1/2mile behind and 2-300ft above (low wing lookhed like a PA28) did another 360 turn and he was heading off towards Colchester....

Wierd Huh

VEEPS

VP8 - we've obviously been in same freaky triangle... this chap/chapesse was in a high wing... I'm guessing a C172 as it was making significant progress against me, but my full-tanks, 2 POB Aerobat was hardly Schneider Trophy material :)

Monocock - I think it was sight of my ugly mug that made them turn-tail... the consequences of your suggestion on their state of mental health are unimaginable!

"People - let's be careful out there..."

High wing? Just wondering if it might have been a Decathlon or Citabria. He might have seen the checkerboard fin, identified you as an Aerobat, and may therefore have been inviting you to dance. He was, at the least, bad mannered in not leaving you alone when you did not respond to the invitation. As Shaggy suggested, if you had wanted to tango, you could have tipped steeply towards him. Your snazzy new GPS would have re-located you after you'd spent a minute or two shooting him down.

HB

Seems to be a popular area around that neck of the woods with a few bandits being seen at all levels!!!

VEEPS

:D

Maybe they were lost, and thought "Oh look. There's another plane. They look like they know the way. Lets follow them!":rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Monocock that made me larrrrf that did - perhaps you could have a huge picture of your arse on an overhead projector roll, and upon being closely followed, a quick pull of the cord to release the image behind you :E