Flightline safety -- comment from DDRF

Below is David Kleyhans' comment, sent to me by email, on the number of aircraft allowed in the air at one time.
Food for thought perhaps?

In the latest SAMAA News, the proposed SAMAA safety policy was
presented.

On behalf of the members of Durban Deep Radio Flyers, I would like to
make a couple of comments.

You propose a limit of 5 aircraft airborne at one time. For the
last year, our club has imposed a limit of 6 aircraft airborne at one
time, and have never had an incident related to having too many aircraft
in the sky. The way we control it is to never allow more than six
transmitters to be booked out of the transmitter impound at any one
time. This means that if 6 aircraft are airborne, it will only be for a
very short period of time, due to starting of engines etc. We also
impose strict circuit discipline and insist that EVERY pilot has a
spotter. The spotter's only job is to look for other aircraft and warn
the pilot of impending collisions. The spotter also watches aircraft
that are landing or taking off, as this is generally the highest safety
risk. Due to the high number of members at most city flying clubs,
reducing the number of aircraft airborne will limit the amount of flying
time the members get.

John Godwin