Safety Comes First
Dave Gee | [email protected]
Hazards in the pits: three exciting stories
I have a trio of "pit" stories to start things off with this month. Louis Goldberg had an exciting afternoon, and he asked me to share his tale with you. He flies a CAP 232 with a Moki 1.80 engine. It's a reliable machine and has had many successful flights. The radio has a throttle-lock feature so preflight work can be done safely.
The Moki was idling along with the throttle lock engaged when suddenly the engine went to a ragged full-power setting. Louis was not ready for takeoff, but he managed to get the airplane off the ground safely and avoided hitting anything or anybody. After some difficult flying, with the power level random and unresponsive, the engine quit and Louis made a safe landing.
A close examination showed that the tip of the locking screw on the engine venturi barrel had worn or broken away, allowing the carburetor to ignore the servo linkage and run as it saw fit. This is an unusual failure! Louis installed a new screw and things were back to normal, but you can bet he will inspect that part regularly. We both suggest that you do the same to avoid a wild ride such as the one his CAP took.
Kermit Wilkins wrote: "No one was injured in this case, thank goodness, but it could have been a very serious injury had the pilot not been standing in the safety zone. Dennis McKenzie and I were preparing to enjoy flying. During the warm-up on high RPM I heard a loud bang and looked around to find out what had happened. Dennis was OK but his prop had broken in half and the engine had pulled the firewall half out of the aircraft. I thought that AMA might want to know about this. Hopefully this will help other RC members to play it safe around aircraft during runup."
"During inspection of the prop afterwards it was noted that the prop (which was old) did have an old crack near the center, running from the leading edge halfway to the trailing edge of the prop." According to Kermit, the model was mounted safely on a pit stand and everyone was standing in safe areas in case something such as this happened. It's worthwhile to stay aware of the extended "prop disc" and the possibility of a thrown blade. And take a good look at your propellers. If you see cracks or other signs of impending failure, toss 'em!
There's one more. I received a note from Dan Reiss about his exciting encounter with engine compression. He wrote: "While flipping my Brison 3.2 the engine backfired and knocked the chicken stick out of my right hand into the back of my left hand. The stick was traveling at a very high velocity because the pain was severe. In no time my hand was swollen like a medical glove that was blown up. No bones were broken and after a few days of icing the swelling began to subside but my hand turned purple to two inches below my wrist. It was stiff for about six weeks. Now, I start my engines with my left hand behind my back!"
Harvey Cappel, a club safety officer, sent me a fine essay reprinted from his local newsletter. "Our hobby/sport is changing very fast these days. We no longer simply take off, fly a regular model airplane in smooth circles and land. Today it's all about overpowered airplanes, helicopters, electric do-it-all monsters and full-bore 3D. The helicopters, hot rod fast flyers and 3D folks all have in common a need and desire to use the runway for activities other than normal takeoff and landing. This is the rub. Obviously if you are flying you don't want a helicopter or stunt flying airplane in your face. Besides being less than courteous it's, in most instances, unsafe.
So what to do? In a normal world it's obvious: just don't do it if it's going to bother or endanger another pilot or spectator. But we ain't normal, at least not all of us, so here are some guidelines to remind us how to be normal and safe.
- If you wish to use the runway for other than normal takeoff and landing do so only with consenting adults. Establish this consent before you start your flying machine. This is also the only time when operating your aircraft while not standing in a designated flying station may be acceptable.
- If you are landing a helicopter do it much like an airplane: stay in the center of the runway until you reach the taxiway and then taxi in below head high and as slow as practical.
- Conduct all 3D and fast low flying (below head high) off of and beyond the runway unless alone and/or with consenting adults. This includes electrics and helicopters.
- When buddy box training is going on, if you can't wait a few minutes till it's done then fly at your own risk. The student doesn't know how to avoid your airplane and the instructor is too busy avoiding crashes from student mistakes to watch out for your airplane.
If, in this instance, you crash the student's airplane I'm going to vote for you replacing it. Obviously the student and trainer that goes onto the field with aircraft under control are entitled to their use of the field. If you interfere and cause damage you will be responsible. It's just plain common sense."
Harvey seems like an old-school RC man who wants to get along with a new breed of pilots so everyone can enjoy the local field. I'll bet he isn't the only person in that situation!
Harvey sent me an e-mail at the address listed in the column header, but I like to get paper mail as well. Please send it to me at Box 7081, Van Nuys, CA 91409. I'm always glad to get stories of near misses, topic suggestions, and the benefit of your experience.
Someone with much more experience (and talent) than I have is Bill Hannan. He sent me a note about performing model-airplane demonstrations for school kids.
Bill wrote that during the question-and-answer portion the intelligent questions often came from the girls, and the boys asked only "Where can we buy one?" I've seen this phenomenon many times.
There must be some deep psychological explanation for why girls so often do better with their first models, but boys more often have the motivating interest to continue as modelers. I don't know the science, but I can see which kids in a group have the "spark" to become model hobbyists.
Flying models for groups of kids is terrific fun. My father and I have taken our indoor air show to schools, Scouts, church groups, and science fairs, and we are always gratified by the youngsters' thrilled faces when they see their first model flying machine.
Our hobby has many benefits and can bring joy throughout a lifetime. That interest and delight are helpful things, and they make our lives richer. The professional safety-industry people would call it a "wellness program"—the sort of thing that brings longer, happier lives. And you thought they were just toy airplanes!
Look at the pictures of the kid looking up at the Piper Cub No-Cal and the group of guys posing with their contest models. The same delight shows on all of those faces.
The men are members of the OFFC, and they make no secret about how their shared interest in model aircraft keeps them mentally and socially active. They are a group of mostly retired modelers who meet and fly together Wednesday mornings.
Those club members are as interested in the latest model product as they are in some kit from 1938. Their enthusiasm is the same as that of a kid launching his first model, and it is refreshed with every flight.
The picture of the kid was taken at Miller Elementary School in Burbank, California, during a model-demonstration session. My father Ralph and I flew airplanes in the auditorium and gave the kids some information about aviation history and the hobby of aeromodeling.
The class wrote the nicest thank-you letters afterward, and following are some quoted lines from the kids.
"Dear Dave and Dave's Dad: Are you going to come back next year? If not, it's OK because I might not be here."
"Guess what, the airplane you gave us worked! I like it!"
"My favorite airplane that you flew is the one that hit the lightbulb. It was tight. I learned that plane models aren't as stupid as they look."
"Thank you so much for the fun airplanes that crash into the walls. Thanks for my airplane, too. It doesn't fly yet but I still love it!"
"I also didn't know that some planes have plastic wings. I thought every airplane was made out of wood."
"Take care of your dad. He cares about you." MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
