President’s Perspective - 2006/01
The injury you might avoid may well be your own.
With the introduction of the first commercial spread-spectrum radio for model airplanes, the world of model aviation experienced one of those pivotal milestones that will affect the way we all operate.
You are probably asking, "What is spread spectrum?" I can't explain the technical details, but it is a system in which any need for frequency control is eliminated. It works in a similar fashion as wireless networking for computers or cell phones. Currently it is sold for lower-performance models only, but this will signal a bright future for our hobby.
In thinking about our hobby and the development that I have seen during my fifty years of involvement, it's astounding to realize just how far we have come. Fifty years ago, RC was reserved for those who were radio amateurs, the glow plug was a relatively "new" thing, CL was the rage, and kids were a high percentage of those of us who were involved. My, how it has changed!
One of the great things about aeromodeling is the diversity of activities that are contained within the overall hobby. In general, hobbies can be divided into four categories:
- Active — Because we participate in actually flying our models, most of us are involved in the active part of the hobby. A day at the flying field is the best part of the hobby to most of us.
- Passive — There are a few—and we all know someone who fits this category—who get their enjoyment from watching others fly. Many get enjoyment out of the social aspects of the hobby and seldom fly a model themselves.
- Possessive — Those who are into collecting all aspects of aeromodeling are the possessive types. I have seen a few amazing collections of model airplane paraphernalia. We revel in the swap-shop areas of many trade shows. We don't need to be just collectors to enjoy this part of the hobby. How many of us have a few kits stashed away, just waiting for the time to build them, and how many of us will ever find that time?
- Creative — The creative aspect of aeromodeling is shown in the building of our models. Even those who have ARFs exhibit their creativity when they finish up their models. And we have all figured out some creative ways to crash a model, haven't we?
Yes, it's a diverse hobby, but we need to stick together in order to be able to enjoy our hobby and to pass this passion on to the next generation. Our greatest strength is that diversity and our ability to bond together for the common good.
There has been a flurry of E-mail about fail-safe systems — not how they can be used to prevent accidents, but how they can be misused and cause some accidents. It seems as though the lack of awareness of your fail-safe settings can become a problem, and that is easy to cure.
Please do me a favor right now. Dig out the instruction manual for your radio system and become familiar with any fail-safe features it has. Don't rely on the factory settings to do what you want them to do.
Have you tested your fail-safe system lately? Are you sure that it cuts the throttle rather than going to full throttle? This is an even bigger issue with electric-powered models since those can "start" without warning if you shut off the transmitter and the receiver is still turned on — and the fail-safe is not set properly.
The injury you might avoid may well be your own.
Author
Dave Brown AMA President [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
