Narrative:

Today's close call, the near miss of 2 sailplanes directly over the field was intentional -- I believe -- and, in fact, an act of 'air rage' analogous to 'road rage.' if I'd 'augered in' today, I would have been really pissed. Because today's incident was not just preventable, not just foolish -- it was intentional -- and therefore relegated, in my opinion, to a higher status. The circumstances, from my viewpoint, may be broken into 3 sequential realms -- all serious to extremely serious in their individual safety aspects. I'll label these: 1) the cause, 2) air rage, and 3) after effects. There is a year-long history of animosity expressed by today's offending pilot towards me -- for a multitude of different reasons. For example, most recently, today, I pulled my plane out to the operations area behind pilot X. Because the launch line was quite long, I elected to take a tow from operator a. When I pulled out in front, quite legitimately, to take off ahead of others waiting for operator B towplane to return -- pilot X was clearly irritated with me. Unbeknownst to me, pilot X had just had a similar run-in with a different club member the previous sunday over the exact same problem. The point here is that I feel that pilot X carried a lot of anger -- originated on the ground -- into the air today, so that this anger became a contributing 'cause' of today's incident. The incident began while I was flying with pilot Y slightly north of runway 26. I saw pilot Y circling nearby and I joined him in the thermal, below him. I first radioed him of that fact. (Because I am still very cautious about gaggle flying, I trust pilot Y and he is very good about communicating with me.) after several turns, he radioed to me, 'why don't you mark this one while I fly a little west.' I agreed. A short time later he radioed 'why don't you come over here, it's not any better lift really, but it's easier to stay in it.' I again agreed. I had lost sight of pilot Y while thermalling. As I headed west, I easily saw a white sailplane circling clockwise, and believed it to be pilot Y. (Nearly all fiberglas (newer) sailplanes look identical, in that nearly all are white in color, have t-tails, etc. My plane, conversely, is one of the few exceptions, easily recognizable in the air because of its rare v-tail.) I entered strong lift before I got to that plane, however, and so radioed 'pilot Y, I think it's more to the east' -- suggesting that he join me. As I started to turn right, the sailplane I was watching seemed to straighten out from its turn and come straight toward me at my 3 O'clock position. Although it was slightly below me, we were too close in altitude to safely pass over each other, so I immediately canceled my right turn (which would have brought me more into a head-on heading with the other plane) and radioed 'pilot Y, do you have me in sight?' pilot Y responded 'yes.' however, the sailplane I was continually watching continued to head straight for me, so I turned left to avoid him. At this point I saw greenish coloring on the nose of the plane coming at me, and immediately realized my error -- the plane was not pilot Y. He eventually reinitiated his right turn, and was somewhat in front of me (in time) and lower than me (in altitude) as we passed on a mostly parallel trajectory. It was not a good situation, but it was not real close, by my standards. Midair collision is my worst fear, and I generally keep much larger distances in thermalling than most. The voice of pilot X immediately came over the radio 'that was too close.' the voice was clearly angry with me, so I re-entered my right turn and did a sharp 180 degree turn to go back east and get away from pilot X. I did not thermal. I did a quite steep right bank, and pushed forward on the stick to rapidly gain airspeed and leave the area. Air rage: about 10-15 seconds later I had completed my 180 degree turn and was flying nearly due east. With no exaggeration, the blue sky outside my canopy suddenly went to nearly 100% white -- the white fiberglas of wings and fuselage of another sailplane. The sailplane immediatelyin front of my canopy was in a quite steep (approximately 30 degree) climbing attitude and a definite right bank. It had come from just underneath me and slightly to the left. I knew we were going to hit. I instinctively braced for the impact. I was sure I was going to clip his tail (which I still could not see in the very first image that I saw the plane come up from the lower left of my canopy). Given his steep climbing attitude immediately in front of me, I felt his tail would have to hit the bottom, or bottom left side of my nose. I immediately jerked my stick back, but honestly did not know immediately which way to turn. Since his plane was heading to the right immediately in front of my nose, I didn't want to turn right and hit him. Conversely, I didn't want to turn left and aggravate hitting the tail sooner. After probably only a fraction of a second, I threw my plane to the left (in addition to the hard climb (backstick) input). The tail of the other plane must have passed me before my turn input had any effect. It is quite possible, however, that we would have definitely hit had I not pulled back on my stick. As I started to round out of my sudden climb and left roll, however, I heard on the radio, clearly, in pilot X's voice, verbatim: 'get the *&^% out of my airspace!' the other plane that passed in front of my canopy was the same plane as in incident #1, with the same coloring on the nose. I recognized the plane as belonging to pilot X and having been launched by pilot X shortly after I took off, and the same plane that I had just seen about 15 seconds before. I never saw pilot X's plane after incident #1, before our near miss in incident #2. Pilot X could conceivably now argue that incident #2 was also an inadvertent, unintentional near miss. This would be an extreme, hard-to-believe argument, though -- given that he clearly acknowledged seeing me a few seconds earlier with his first angry radio transmission. But to be fair to pilot X, it's theoretically possible to argue that the second incident was also inadvertent. Except for his second angry radio transmission, this radio transmission for all on 123.30 to hear, uttered as he was just past me, makes it clear to me that today's near miss was, unbelievably, intentional. There are witnesses to today's incident. In the words of pilot Y, a witness slightly higher in the same area, 'I estimate that your nose just missed his tail by 2-3 ft as you abruptly swerved left.' and there are multiple witnesses who heard the radio transmission, both in the air and on the ground. After effects: I soon began to experience much trouble flying my plane after the incident. My right arm and hand started shaking so severely that I had to hold the stick with both hands to steady it and to just fly straight and level. I became extremely nervous about hitting another plane. I was not calmly scanning the sky as I should have been. I radioed pilot Y to tell me his position and for him to come to my aid. When he pointed out to me where he was above me, I asked him to suggest to me a different radio frequency to talk on. He replied '123.50.' I immediately realized my error, though, because changing my radio required me to let go of the stick with both hands. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but in those first seconds after incident #2, I had great difficulty changing the radio and flying at the same time. I briefly explained my predicament to pilot Y. He told me where to fly, helped me find general lift flying straight ahead, so that I had ample time to settle down. I continued to fly for about another 20 mins to further relax and prepare for my landing. I landed without major incident, although I misjudged my landing spot by having a final approach too high. I landed too long, rolled past the normal turn-out, and required 2 people on the ground, and a vehicle, to help me remove my plane from the active runway. Callback conversation with reporter revealed the following information: reporter states that the glider club has handled this situation well. He believes things have calmed down.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PLT OF A GLIDER HAS AN NMAC WITH A SECOND GLIDER PLT. IT APPEARS TO BE AN ACT OF 'AIR RAGE.'

Narrative: TODAY'S CLOSE CALL, THE NEAR MISS OF 2 SAILPLANES DIRECTLY OVER THE FIELD WAS INTENTIONAL -- I BELIEVE -- AND, IN FACT, AN ACT OF 'AIR RAGE' ANALOGOUS TO 'ROAD RAGE.' IF I'D 'AUGERED IN' TODAY, I WOULD HAVE BEEN REALLY PISSED. BECAUSE TODAY'S INCIDENT WAS NOT JUST PREVENTABLE, NOT JUST FOOLISH -- IT WAS INTENTIONAL -- AND THEREFORE RELEGATED, IN MY OPINION, TO A HIGHER STATUS. THE CIRCUMSTANCES, FROM MY VIEWPOINT, MAY BE BROKEN INTO 3 SEQUENTIAL REALMS -- ALL SERIOUS TO EXTREMELY SERIOUS IN THEIR INDIVIDUAL SAFETY ASPECTS. I'LL LABEL THESE: 1) THE CAUSE, 2) AIR RAGE, AND 3) AFTER EFFECTS. THERE IS A YEAR-LONG HISTORY OF ANIMOSITY EXPRESSED BY TODAY'S OFFENDING PLT TOWARDS ME -- FOR A MULTITUDE OF DIFFERENT REASONS. FOR EXAMPLE, MOST RECENTLY, TODAY, I PULLED MY PLANE OUT TO THE OPS AREA BEHIND PLT X. BECAUSE THE LAUNCH LINE WAS QUITE LONG, I ELECTED TO TAKE A TOW FROM OPERATOR A. WHEN I PULLED OUT IN FRONT, QUITE LEGITIMATELY, TO TAKE OFF AHEAD OF OTHERS WAITING FOR OPERATOR B TOWPLANE TO RETURN -- PLT X WAS CLRLY IRRITATED WITH ME. UNBEKNOWNST TO ME, PLT X HAD JUST HAD A SIMILAR RUN-IN WITH A DIFFERENT CLUB MEMBER THE PREVIOUS SUNDAY OVER THE EXACT SAME PROB. THE POINT HERE IS THAT I FEEL THAT PLT X CARRIED A LOT OF ANGER -- ORIGINATED ON THE GND -- INTO THE AIR TODAY, SO THAT THIS ANGER BECAME A CONTRIBUTING 'CAUSE' OF TODAY'S INCIDENT. THE INCIDENT BEGAN WHILE I WAS FLYING WITH PLT Y SLIGHTLY N OF RWY 26. I SAW PLT Y CIRCLING NEARBY AND I JOINED HIM IN THE THERMAL, BELOW HIM. I FIRST RADIOED HIM OF THAT FACT. (BECAUSE I AM STILL VERY CAUTIOUS ABOUT GAGGLE FLYING, I TRUST PLT Y AND HE IS VERY GOOD ABOUT COMMUNICATING WITH ME.) AFTER SEVERAL TURNS, HE RADIOED TO ME, 'WHY DON'T YOU MARK THIS ONE WHILE I FLY A LITTLE W.' I AGREED. A SHORT TIME LATER HE RADIOED 'WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER HERE, IT'S NOT ANY BETTER LIFT REALLY, BUT IT'S EASIER TO STAY IN IT.' I AGAIN AGREED. I HAD LOST SIGHT OF PLT Y WHILE THERMALLING. AS I HEADED W, I EASILY SAW A WHITE SAILPLANE CIRCLING CLOCKWISE, AND BELIEVED IT TO BE PLT Y. (NEARLY ALL FIBERGLAS (NEWER) SAILPLANES LOOK IDENTICAL, IN THAT NEARLY ALL ARE WHITE IN COLOR, HAVE T-TAILS, ETC. MY PLANE, CONVERSELY, IS ONE OF THE FEW EXCEPTIONS, EASILY RECOGNIZABLE IN THE AIR BECAUSE OF ITS RARE V-TAIL.) I ENTERED STRONG LIFT BEFORE I GOT TO THAT PLANE, HOWEVER, AND SO RADIOED 'PLT Y, I THINK IT'S MORE TO THE E' -- SUGGESTING THAT HE JOIN ME. AS I STARTED TO TURN R, THE SAILPLANE I WAS WATCHING SEEMED TO STRAIGHTEN OUT FROM ITS TURN AND COME STRAIGHT TOWARD ME AT MY 3 O'CLOCK POS. ALTHOUGH IT WAS SLIGHTLY BELOW ME, WE WERE TOO CLOSE IN ALT TO SAFELY PASS OVER EACH OTHER, SO I IMMEDIATELY CANCELED MY R TURN (WHICH WOULD HAVE BROUGHT ME MORE INTO A HEAD-ON HDG WITH THE OTHER PLANE) AND RADIOED 'PLT Y, DO YOU HAVE ME IN SIGHT?' PLT Y RESPONDED 'YES.' HOWEVER, THE SAILPLANE I WAS CONTINUALLY WATCHING CONTINUED TO HEAD STRAIGHT FOR ME, SO I TURNED L TO AVOID HIM. AT THIS POINT I SAW GREENISH COLORING ON THE NOSE OF THE PLANE COMING AT ME, AND IMMEDIATELY REALIZED MY ERROR -- THE PLANE WAS NOT PLT Y. HE EVENTUALLY REINITIATED HIS R TURN, AND WAS SOMEWHAT IN FRONT OF ME (IN TIME) AND LOWER THAN ME (IN ALT) AS WE PASSED ON A MOSTLY PARALLEL TRAJECTORY. IT WAS NOT A GOOD SIT, BUT IT WAS NOT REAL CLOSE, BY MY STANDARDS. MIDAIR COLLISION IS MY WORST FEAR, AND I GENERALLY KEEP MUCH LARGER DISTANCES IN THERMALLING THAN MOST. THE VOICE OF PLT X IMMEDIATELY CAME OVER THE RADIO 'THAT WAS TOO CLOSE.' THE VOICE WAS CLRLY ANGRY WITH ME, SO I RE-ENTERED MY R TURN AND DID A SHARP 180 DEG TURN TO GO BACK E AND GET AWAY FROM PLT X. I DID NOT THERMAL. I DID A QUITE STEEP R BANK, AND PUSHED FORWARD ON THE STICK TO RAPIDLY GAIN AIRSPD AND LEAVE THE AREA. AIR RAGE: ABOUT 10-15 SECONDS LATER I HAD COMPLETED MY 180 DEG TURN AND WAS FLYING NEARLY DUE E. WITH NO EXAGGERATION, THE BLUE SKY OUTSIDE MY CANOPY SUDDENLY WENT TO NEARLY 100% WHITE -- THE WHITE FIBERGLAS OF WINGS AND FUSELAGE OF ANOTHER SAILPLANE. THE SAILPLANE IMMEDIATELYIN FRONT OF MY CANOPY WAS IN A QUITE STEEP (APPROX 30 DEG) CLBING ATTITUDE AND A DEFINITE R BANK. IT HAD COME FROM JUST UNDERNEATH ME AND SLIGHTLY TO THE L. I KNEW WE WERE GOING TO HIT. I INSTINCTIVELY BRACED FOR THE IMPACT. I WAS SURE I WAS GOING TO CLIP HIS TAIL (WHICH I STILL COULD NOT SEE IN THE VERY FIRST IMAGE THAT I SAW THE PLANE COME UP FROM THE LOWER L OF MY CANOPY). GIVEN HIS STEEP CLBING ATTITUDE IMMEDIATELY IN FRONT OF ME, I FELT HIS TAIL WOULD HAVE TO HIT THE BOTTOM, OR BOTTOM L SIDE OF MY NOSE. I IMMEDIATELY JERKED MY STICK BACK, BUT HONESTLY DID NOT KNOW IMMEDIATELY WHICH WAY TO TURN. SINCE HIS PLANE WAS HDG TO THE R IMMEDIATELY IN FRONT OF MY NOSE, I DIDN'T WANT TO TURN R AND HIT HIM. CONVERSELY, I DIDN'T WANT TO TURN L AND AGGRAVATE HITTING THE TAIL SOONER. AFTER PROBABLY ONLY A FRACTION OF A SECOND, I THREW MY PLANE TO THE L (IN ADDITION TO THE HARD CLB (BACKSTICK) INPUT). THE TAIL OF THE OTHER PLANE MUST HAVE PASSED ME BEFORE MY TURN INPUT HAD ANY EFFECT. IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE, HOWEVER, THAT WE WOULD HAVE DEFINITELY HIT HAD I NOT PULLED BACK ON MY STICK. AS I STARTED TO ROUND OUT OF MY SUDDEN CLB AND L ROLL, HOWEVER, I HEARD ON THE RADIO, CLRLY, IN PLT X'S VOICE, VERBATIM: 'GET THE *&^% OUT OF MY AIRSPACE!' THE OTHER PLANE THAT PASSED IN FRONT OF MY CANOPY WAS THE SAME PLANE AS IN INCIDENT #1, WITH THE SAME COLORING ON THE NOSE. I RECOGNIZED THE PLANE AS BELONGING TO PLT X AND HAVING BEEN LAUNCHED BY PLT X SHORTLY AFTER I TOOK OFF, AND THE SAME PLANE THAT I HAD JUST SEEN ABOUT 15 SECONDS BEFORE. I NEVER SAW PLT X'S PLANE AFTER INCIDENT #1, BEFORE OUR NEAR MISS IN INCIDENT #2. PLT X COULD CONCEIVABLY NOW ARGUE THAT INCIDENT #2 WAS ALSO AN INADVERTENT, UNINTENTIONAL NEAR MISS. THIS WOULD BE AN EXTREME, HARD-TO-BELIEVE ARGUMENT, THOUGH -- GIVEN THAT HE CLRLY ACKNOWLEDGED SEEING ME A FEW SECONDS EARLIER WITH HIS FIRST ANGRY RADIO XMISSION. BUT TO BE FAIR TO PLT X, IT'S THEORETICALLY POSSIBLE TO ARGUE THAT THE SECOND INCIDENT WAS ALSO INADVERTENT. EXCEPT FOR HIS SECOND ANGRY RADIO XMISSION, THIS RADIO XMISSION FOR ALL ON 123.30 TO HEAR, UTTERED AS HE WAS JUST PAST ME, MAKES IT CLR TO ME THAT TODAY'S NEAR MISS WAS, UNBELIEVABLY, INTENTIONAL. THERE ARE WITNESSES TO TODAY'S INCIDENT. IN THE WORDS OF PLT Y, A WITNESS SLIGHTLY HIGHER IN THE SAME AREA, 'I ESTIMATE THAT YOUR NOSE JUST MISSED HIS TAIL BY 2-3 FT AS YOU ABRUPTLY SWERVED L.' AND THERE ARE MULTIPLE WITNESSES WHO HEARD THE RADIO XMISSION, BOTH IN THE AIR AND ON THE GND. AFTER EFFECTS: I SOON BEGAN TO EXPERIENCE MUCH TROUBLE FLYING MY PLANE AFTER THE INCIDENT. MY R ARM AND HAND STARTED SHAKING SO SEVERELY THAT I HAD TO HOLD THE STICK WITH BOTH HANDS TO STEADY IT AND TO JUST FLY STRAIGHT AND LEVEL. I BECAME EXTREMELY NERVOUS ABOUT HITTING ANOTHER PLANE. I WAS NOT CALMLY SCANNING THE SKY AS I SHOULD HAVE BEEN. I RADIOED PLT Y TO TELL ME HIS POS AND FOR HIM TO COME TO MY AID. WHEN HE POINTED OUT TO ME WHERE HE WAS ABOVE ME, I ASKED HIM TO SUGGEST TO ME A DIFFERENT RADIO FREQ TO TALK ON. HE REPLIED '123.50.' I IMMEDIATELY REALIZED MY ERROR, THOUGH, BECAUSE CHANGING MY RADIO REQUIRED ME TO LET GO OF THE STICK WITH BOTH HANDS. I'M EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT IT, BUT IN THOSE FIRST SECONDS AFTER INCIDENT #2, I HAD GREAT DIFFICULTY CHANGING THE RADIO AND FLYING AT THE SAME TIME. I BRIEFLY EXPLAINED MY PREDICAMENT TO PLT Y. HE TOLD ME WHERE TO FLY, HELPED ME FIND GENERAL LIFT FLYING STRAIGHT AHEAD, SO THAT I HAD AMPLE TIME TO SETTLE DOWN. I CONTINUED TO FLY FOR ABOUT ANOTHER 20 MINS TO FURTHER RELAX AND PREPARE FOR MY LNDG. I LANDED WITHOUT MAJOR INCIDENT, ALTHOUGH I MISJUDGED MY LNDG SPOT BY HAVING A FINAL APCH TOO HIGH. I LANDED TOO LONG, ROLLED PAST THE NORMAL TURN-OUT, AND REQUIRED 2 PEOPLE ON THE GND, AND A VEHICLE, TO HELP ME REMOVE MY PLANE FROM THE ACTIVE RWY. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATES THAT THE GLIDER CLUB HAS HANDLED THIS SIT WELL. HE BELIEVES THINGS HAVE CALMED DOWN.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.