Safety Comes First
Dave Gee | [email protected]
Too much TV is bad for your eyes—especially when flying RC
Living in a changing time can be painful. Every month this magazine has news of some innovation in our hobby — a wonderful gadget or improvement that leaves the old stuff in the dust. I have a tough time keeping up with all of it.
Luckily we have a fine tradition of modelers flying classic designs and using old-style equipment. Still, my 4-year-old antique electric-power systems cannot keep up with the newest Li-Poly outrunner stuff.
It was a big shock to the 1920s wire-and-silk builders when that newfangled balsa came onto the scene — kind of like how I feel about foam structure becoming more popular than stick and tissue. Am I turning into a cranky old guy at the tender age of 46?
Some of our current safety issues were science fiction just a few years ago. Sometimes I feel like I'm far behind the times dealing with matters such as the discussions about RC fliers who mount TV transmitters on their models and fly by looking into a monitor instead of watching the airplanes.
I saw this done at an indoor session and thought it was cool, but the AMA Safety Code specifically forbids an aircraft that is "...equipped with devices which allow it to be flown to a selected location which is beyond the visual range of the pilot."
Short-range indoor TV systems are therefore technically legal, but I have heard stories of outdoor models with much more powerful rigs. A little thought confirms that the AMA rule is a good one; of course, the original idea behind it is to head off worries about terrorist plots that misuse hobby aircraft for evil purposes.
There could be serious problems with operating a model so far away from the pilot, and I don't want to hear about how the military gets away with controlling drones from halfway around the world. That doesn't mean we should give it a try.
My indoor cronies found out that if you turn on the TV link and a 2.4 GHz RC system in the wrong order, it is possible to get interference on a digital spread-spectrum (DSS) system. That, coupled with unconfirmed stories about models being flown way too high and far via a TV link, makes this reminder important.
I realize that the equipment is legally available, and I'm sure some hot pilots are confident that they "can handle it," but this could give us all a black eye or worse. Remember the talk about abolishing model aircraft after September 11, 2001 — as was done in England in 1940? Please think ahead and use good judgment. Newspeople do not always use restraint or do careful research on a hot story, and one incident could do irreparable harm to the RC industry and hobby.
There are plenty of neat tricks we could do with our models but that we should not do. I've read scary e-mails about how it was back in the old days, and if you used to launch little rockets from your model or carry firecrackers and you still had all your fingers, great. Nowadays that kind of stuff gets the attention of the police and the papers, and it reflects badly on the rest of us. Isn't there enough fun to be had with our models without pushing these rules?
On the topic of fingers, look at the photo of Scot MacArthur working on his FF Scale Grasshopper. Note the jaunty bandage on his finger. A minor cut at the field is nothing unusual, but I'm surprised by how few modelers bring first-aid supplies for this type of low-level injury. Maybe "first aid" is the wrong term and people don't associate it with little injuries that don't need much more than a cleanup to prevent infection.
Something like Scot's finger wound can be dealt with on the spot with no follow-up. In my toolbox I keep little moist towelettes (from the fried-chicken place), Neosporin, and a few small Band-Aids. Without getting into why I seem to need this stuff so often, I figure that the vast majority of little scrapes can be settled for good right there.
The first-aid kits I see for sale are sometimes filled with baffling items such as giant compresses and rolls of gauze. That stuff is more suitable for assaulting an enemy beachhead than spending a relaxing day at the field! I look for more of a "medical kit," with supplies for more likely minor ailments.
Even so, I have witnessed a strange human phenomenon where an injured person declines treatment, not wanting to "use up" the first-aid supplies in a pristine sealed box. How bad does a cut have to be before we are justified in unwrapping the medical kit? That's what got me to start keeping minor medical stuff in my toolbox. I labeled it the "owie" drawer after a wounded 4-year-old came up with the right term for minor wound treatment. When more serious injuries happen, everyone grabs a cell phone and calls for professional help anyway. My strategy is to pass out immediately and let cooler heads prevail.
Andrew Griffith wrote in from Jacksonville, Florida, with some wise counsel on this situation. As a former firefighter/paramedic, he knows that some flying fields can be hard for first responders to find. Rural flying sites might not even have addresses, and directions are needed. I fly at busy RC and FF sites in a large municipal park, and if you can't describe exactly where the "Grassy Knoll FF site" is, you might have a long wait for medical aid.
Andrew suggests taking a moment out of a club meeting to discuss exactly how to get help to your field when it is needed. Maybe someone has to be sent to the main road to escort the crew, or perhaps you have a landline phone available that the emergency operator can easily trace. Go over the fire-extinguisher locations.
A health situation might be something other than a propeller strike. We older modelers could have sudden medical needs, someone may be bitten by a snake, or perhaps a car catches fire. A group reminder session might pay off.
Andrew also mentioned my recent column about Textron/Bell/Cessna and the demand for royalties from model-aircraft companies. He agrees with me that they are dirty slugs for pulling this, and he hopes that someone has a common-sense attack soon. Well, Andrew didn't actually write "dirty slugs," but they are.
The photograph of a Rubber FF mass launch ties in with the shot of me at the controls of a Demoiselle. Have you ever considered that many things we do with models are things we would never dream of doing if we were actually riding in the machine?
That cloud of models climbing in the sky practically guarantees a midair or two, but it is amusing and not dangerous at all for those little airplanes in an open park. Larger RC aircraft require more caution, but with a good field layout and courteous pilots there could be a bunch flying at once with no mishaps.
If something does go awry, the only danger would be to people on the ground, and even that risk is minimized by proper runway and pit locations. The pilots always have their feet safely on the ground.
The next time you attend a full-scale air show, notice how the pilots plan their flights so the airplanes are headed away from the crowd if there is a problem during a maneuver. This wasn't always the case, and it took some awful crashes to develop the strict procedures that display pilots use. Some other countries do not enforce such rules, and sometimes the spectators pay the price.
We modelers could learn something from air-show fliers. I don't worry too much about what happens to that gargantuan 10-gram Peanut because I can always print out a new fake me. Things are different when holding a transmitter, though.
When I hear myself say "Watch this, fellers!", I know my model had best be pointing at some open space in case things work out as they usually do. Make sure your model will be carried in a safe direction, away from people on the ground, whenever possible.
A few practical suggestions
- Keep a small "owie" kit in your toolbox: moist towelettes, antibiotic ointment (Neosporin), assorted small Band-Aids, and a few adhesive wound closures.
- Review emergency procedures at a club meeting: exact field location, access routes, who will meet or escort first responders, and where fire extinguishers are kept.
- When using on-board video or other non-visual flight aids, stay within AMA rules and common-sense limits — do not fly beyond visual range.
- Plan maneuvers to be directed away from spectators and pit areas.
Please feel free to contact me at the e-mail address in the header or via regular mail at Box 7081, Van Nuys CA 91409. I do not claim to have all the answers, but the readers never let me down when information is needed. They are also generous with wisecracking reviews of my column.
If you send e-mail, please put "MA" or something recognizable about modeling in the subject line — otherwise your message may end up in my spam filter along with the home-loan ads. Please don't just put "Hi!" as a subject! — MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
