Safety Comes First - 2006/01

wrinkles from covering material with a
clothes iron, and making laminated parts in
the microwave are neato ideas when
combined with caution and vigilance.
My wife Sweet Diedra let me know loud
and clear that melted plastic residue was not
to be left on the oven racks. Apparently her
baked potato tasted like a P-51 canopy.
Many thanks to a noble but nameless reader
who took a “What’s wrong here?” photo at
his local field. That Messerschmitt is held in a
sturdy stooge, but I cannot recommend
keeping a plastic fuel jug underneath a
running engine.
It seems as though there has to be some
awkward lifting maneuvers done before that
model can taxi out. Am I missing something?
If so, please drop me a line.
I really enjoyed the note Bill Westphal
sent with his helicopter photograph. He wrote:
“I’ll take my 15 minutes at the pillory. I’m
68 and I’ve been flying for 45 years, but these
new batteries are a challenge.“THE GOOD NEWS is that now I know
that all my smoke alarms are working,” wrote
Marty Sasaki. He posted his story on the
Internet, and I couldn’t resist sharing it.
Following is the rest.
“I made a prop block to mold a propeller
blade on, and the glue (Ambroid) hadn’t
completely dried even after a few days. A few
seconds in the microwave ignited the
remaining solvent, which filled the room with
smoke and set off all of the smoke alarms.”
Marty was working on a rubber-power
propeller, but there’s a lesson here for all of
us. Scratch builders often use household
appliances for modeling tasks. Molding“My three-way charger got left out in the
rain while we were at Lake Powell, and
apparently something in the Li-Poly shutoff
circuit got iffy. That wasn’t a particular
problem, though, as the helicopter flew out
over the lake and is now in about 50 feet of
water.
“I ordered a replacement, put about an
hour on it, and then blew it up. My third
arrived today. My wife says no more until I
get on eBay and sell something.”
Bill has some suggestions for electricpower
fliers.
“Do not fully trust any battery charger; if it
fails to shut off, you’ll have an explosion and
fire. Remove the battery from its vehicle for
charging. Charge in a fireproof container,
such as a tin can with sand or “Battery
Bunker.” I got off lucky; I lost only a $300
helicopter. And a table, of course.”
Another picture shows a clever stooge
designed by Philip Story. It has Velcro straps
that adjust to fit all his airplanes, and the
whole rig converts to wheel them onto the
field and then hold them securely for starting.
Not bad!
The column header now gives my E-mail
address only, but don’t let that stop you. I still
welcome (and will answer) old-fashioned
paper letters also. Please mail them to Box
7081, Van Nuys CA 91409. Your help and
suggestions are vital, and great close-call
stories, such as the following from Len
Rozamus of Hopewell, Virginia, are a hit.
“Dave, love your column. Here’s a trick I
learned the hard way. At the field, I reached
over the propeller, got stung, and fumbled
through first aid stuff to stop the bleeding and
cover the wound. A soap wash and antiseptic
application was used, but the surrounding
area was still too fuel soaked to accept a
Band-Aid.
“Solution: Using a canvas material Band-
Aid allowed for a spot of cyanoacrylate on
either end (a drop or two on top of the
material) to secure it to the skin. Obviously
this is not a permanent solution, but it worked
for the moment, and that can be mission
serious.
“I thought I’d pass this tip along so others
could benefit. I wish I would have thought of
it way back when (I’ve had lots of ‘boo-boos’
over the years). Now my field box has a first
aid section with canvas Band-Aids,
antiseptic, and a small unopened tube of
cyanoacrylate. By the way, I have sworn off
reaching over the propeller.”
Len seems like a pretty macho guy. Super
glue is great stuff, but I’m not sure I could
remain calm enough to use it like he did, with
a fuel-soaked cut on my hand. There would
be a lot of hollering and whining first. One of
the earliest uses for cyanoacrylate was to seal
battlefield wounds, so Len did well, but I’ll
bet he takes even more care to avoid the
propeller from now on.
Following is a thread from the Internet about
how not to get bitten by a propeller. The posts
are edited down to just the relevant parts and
come from a group of experienced modelers.
Q: A couple weeks ago I got a nasty propeller
bite from a TD .049 engine with an APC
propeller while adjusting the needle valve. I’m
still a little gun-shy when adjusting the needle
valve; there’s not much room there. How do
you guys extend the needle valve to make it
safer?
A: Loosen the venturi and sweep back the
needle valve slightly. The fuel supply will still
work well.
A: I slipped a short length of fuel tubing over
the needle-valve knob.
A: I have several diameters of aluminum
tubing that are roughly 6 inches long. They
just fit over my small engine needle-valve
heads. Approximately 1/4 inch from the end I
pinch the tube a little to keep it from sliding
all the way down to the carburetor. You can
tune the needle from the end of the tube—not
behind the propeller. It works for me; I have
not been cut since.
A: Cox made some long needle valves forthe needle valve from the cowling he formed
a music-wire extension with a “T” handle at
the end and soldered it onto the end of the
needle valve. Such metalwork is less common
these days, but it was a classy and permanent
solution to needle-valve access.
The modeler who sent me the following
story has asked to remain anonymous.
“I recently attended a local fly-in. The host
club has a great flying site. The well-kept
grass runway is approximately the size of a
football field.
“I was the only one in the air and was
about ready to land. Another airplane was
being carried out for takeoff. I told my spotter
to let it go and I would land after they were in
the air. I then made an uneventful landing, but
the engine quit when I started to taxi back.
“I hollered out ‘man on the field,’ which
was repeated by my spotter. I started walking
toward my airplane. The other model was
about 30 feet high and going south, parallel to
the field. I heard it ‘unwind’ as it turned to
come northbound. I turned around and
realized that the airplane was about head high
and coming right at me!
I immediately hit the grass on my
stomach! The airplane went over me at about
four feet! I was to learn later that the aircraft
was also inverted and this was a maiden
flight!
“Was I scared? You bet! Was I angry?
You bet! After ‘cooling off’ I had a talk with
the pilot of the airplane, who was also visibly
upset over the incident. I also consider him a
friend and a very dedicated and safety-minded
modeler.
“So what happened? The designated
spotter was also the owner of the airplane and
was more interested in watching the airplane
perform than ensuring the safety of other
modelers. Quite simply, the spotter let the
pilot down!
“Lesson: Always get an acknowledgment
from other pilots when something out of the
ordinary is happening with your airplane.
“The host club could have done several
things to ensure the safety of the pilot and
spectators. There should have been a safety
meeting with the pilots, or at least a printed
handout stating the club flying site rules. The
runway should have been marked or
identified in some manner.
“There should have been a straight line
dividing the runway and pilot area. There was
no buffer between the pilot fence and the
runway, and very little distance between the
pit area and pilot area. The pilot ‘boxes’ were
not designated, which resulted in a long
distance between pilots.”
Thanks to our nameless friend for writing
about his experience.
The newly updated AMA Safety Code has
specific guidelines for setting up RC fields,
and each rule was learned the hard way.
Despite all the careful procedures at this funfly,
there was still a close call. We need to
take every precaution possible!
I’ll wrap up with a message from Darlene
Zimmerman of the Maple Cave Flying Club
in Cooperstown, Pennsylvania. She
mentioned a flier who had the following:
“ … one radio and a pocket full of
crystals. All his airplanes were on different
channels. No, he is not changing modules—
he takes a crystal out of the front of the radio
and replaces it with a different crystal! He
says if you can’t change crystals, why do they
sell them?
“Maybe in your next article you could say
something about the no-no of changing
crystals.”
Darlene is right to be concerned. I
consulted some industry experts and got the
same answer from all: changing crystals in
this manner is likely to result in major
problems with transmitter range. Most
systems will not tolerate this type of crystal
swapping. That’s why the interchangeablemodule
system was developed.
That flier is taking a big chance, and at
some point he is likely to be surprised when
his airborne model strikes out on its own and
no longer cares what control signal he sends.
At that point his airplane becomes a danger to
everyone. Don’t let it happen to you!
some of its ready-to-fly airplanes that match
the KK & Ace fine-thread TD needle-valve
assemblies.
I recall seeing several of my father’s scale
FF 1/2A models from the old days. To extend
plastic canopies in the oven, removing