This is an earlier experiment. Read the amendments below before treating its findings as current.
The question
Most losses were near the ground, though the route is at 60 m. Why?
What was tested
Height recorded in re-flown runs, then a switch that holds the emergency craft level.
What was found then
The wing dived at every speed on the grid: 43–80 % of its flight below 30 m without priority, 81 % with the rules at 2×. Alone in an empty sky it held 59.7 m (the instant-response craft stayed near height in its one tested case). So the rules' free up-and-down dodging was not the cause. Held level by sideways-only dodging plus a stronger pull toward its lane, the 4-against-0 loss excess read 1 against 1. That was first blamed on diving into the ground, then withdrawn at c207: sideways-only dodging alone still lost 2 against 0. Level flight was slower, and at 3× on a 1-second link it lost the craft 3 against 0.
What we learned later
The c207 reading that the colliding craft was inside the reserved corridor for 5–8 seconds before impact was voided: the replay wrapped positions around a map edge the grid does not have.
research/design/prio_level_loss_record.md (CAVEAT c211)
What changed
A switch that holds the emergency craft at its planned height was added, off by default; not adopted.
Numbers and source references
- 30 / 30 / 60 / 135
- runs in the four sub-stepsresearch/design/prio_1s_mech_record.md; research/design/prio_alt_census_record.md; research/design/prio_level_hold_record.md; research/design/prio_level_default_record.md
- 48 % / 81 %
- share of flight below 30 m, without priority / package, 2× wingresearch/design/prio_1s_mech_record.md (M2)
- 43 / 48 / 80 %
- share below 30 m without priority at 1.5× / 2× / 3×research/design/prio_alt_census_record.md
- 59.7 m
- height held by the craft alone in an empty skyresearch/design/prio_1s_mech_record.md
- 1 vs 1
- emergency craft lost with the combined level-hold on the ten seeds that read 4 vs 0 divingresearch/design/prio_level_hold_record.md
- 2 vs 0
- losses with horizontal-only dodging aloneresearch/design/prio_level_hold_record.md
- 1.215
- package lap ratio at level in still airresearch/design/prio_level_hold_record.md
- 3 vs 0
- emergency craft lost at 3× level with a 1 s linkresearch/design/prio_level_default_record.md