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.