JOIN-UP COLLISIONS

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's the way it goes one wrong move during join up and two pilots washed out forever let's just take a look at what happened the division leader was reforming his unit and his wingman started to close in for a normal joiner so far so good but the wingman kept barreling in when he finally realized he was closing in too fast he threw up a wing to slow down but too late he lost sight in the other plane and his own inertia squashed him right into it well you say this pallet was a dope huh sure he was and there's lots more like him flying in to join up collisions every day for instance there's a bird who thinks he can join up without using that swivel in his neck to keep track of other planes and the one who might as well be rigged up like this for all the attention he gives those blind spots or how about the flyer who'll risk making a join up when he section leaders between him and the sun and then climbs right into his tail [Music] another one is the lame brain who always tries to bull his way through when he gets into a tight spot [Music] and his cellmate the sensitive pilot who's afraid to pull away from a bad join up for fear of being landed then there's a pinball who doesn't know where he belongs and thinks everyone else is looking out for him [Music] and there's the dreamer who's always got his mind on a uh a different kind of joint [Music] and our old friend the showoff [Music] well enough said the fact is that join up collisions account for the majority of all mid-air crashes and they're causing an average of three deaths a week these pilot-caused accidents must stop and they will stop if you do three things first keep track of the other pilots in your group and always assume there's a plane wherever you can't see [Music] second on every jointer keep a close check on your relative movement and position and give yourself plenty of time and space to decelerate and third no matter whether the join up is from above below or from the side close in cautiously using a very small speed differential so that you just ease into position that's the right way and it's the way the really good pilots do it [Music] you