Safety Comes First - 2008/09
Dave Gee | [email protected]
The instructions will tell you how well your transmitter knows your airplanes
Sometimes we have to discover things the hard way, as a story from Fred Dings II illustrates. He wrote:
"A friend crashed his airplane while using the Futaba FASST system. He had been flying his Piper Cub and then, without selecting the Chipmunk model on his system, took off and crashed his Chipmunk.
"I investigated this and found that the Futaba system has no Model‑Match feature as the JR/Spektrum system has. You probably know all about this, but I have never heard of it or read about it."
It's safe to assume that if one pilot didn't get the word, there must be others. The critical words in Fred's message are "never heard of it or read about it." If there was ever a good reason to read and study the manual for your radio, this is it!
Fred's note continued:
"I have the Futaba FASST module in my 9ZAP WC‑2 transmitter and four planes with Futaba 2.4 GHz receivers. I linked all four receivers to my module as instructed and now, if I turn all four of my 2.4 GHz planes on, I can activate all the servos on all four models.
"Another friend has the JR system and when he turns on all of his 2.4 GHz models only the model whose memory has been selected will display any activity. I don't know how JR accomplishes this, but it sure is a good thing."
I generally crash my models one by one, so operating all of them at once via a single transmitter could save me lots of time. Don't get me wrong; I have four Futaba radios looking over my shoulder as I type, but Fred is right that the JR feature is spiffy.
The point of all this is that we need to be familiar with the equipment we use. If Fred's pal had been aware of the situation, you can bet that he never would have switched models without changing settings.
Perhaps another lesson here is that it is good to set up all our models the same when possible. I do it because I'm unimaginative, but it would have saved the Chipmunk from turning into chips.
I appreciate Fred's story and hope other readers will share info via E‑mail or letter. Anonymity is available upon request. Paul Goldsmith said I could quote him and use his name, so following is what happened at a meeting of his Arizona Model Aviators club in Mesa.
"There was a motion at a club meeting to put canopies over the flight stations at our field due to the 120‑degree temps in the summer. I did not feel it was a good idea due to the fact that every once in a while a plane can get overhead and it would be out of sight and pose a safety hazard. What is the AMA's position on this issue? I really feel this is a bad idea, but would like your input to see if I am correct or just being stubborn."
The AMA Safety Committee kicked this question around and I found myself disagreeing with some experienced fliers, which made me wonder if I might be incorrect and stubborn. I feel that this is a decision for the local club, and what it decides should go, but it does indeed sound like a bad idea. Sooner or later, there will be a pilot running out from under the canopy, maybe onto the runway, trying to see over the shelter to keep an errant model in sight. I thought the club should encourage the use of hats, sunglasses, ice‑cold Gatorade, and other means of mitigating heat that do not pose a hazard to the operation of remotely controlled aircraft from a static position on the ground.
Nobody actually quoted me the line about how "only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun," but Don Lowe (who has more experience and wisdom than three of me) E‑mailed the following:
"We had sunshades at flying stations at R/C World for years without their being the cause of an incident; I have also seen them at other sites. Florida and Arizona are noted for very hot sun in summer months.
"What we are looking at is the much larger benefit of helping to prevent sunstroke and skin cancer than the very outside chance of one obscuring the flyers' vision. Properly designed it should be easy for the flyer to avoid any obscuration."
I welcome your opinions on this question. It looks like my views are not supported by the actual experience of modelers, so perhaps I will retreat to my usual indoor flying sites and turn up the air‑conditioning.
RC Plane Restraint and other gadgets
Time to look at the photographs. That gadget holding the model's tail is an RC Plane Restraint stand from Jack Knife Machine Shop.
Steve Watts came up with this new take on an old idea. In addition to making the thing out of 6061 aluminum, he designed the uprights to be removable so you don't have to lift or tilt the model when you're ready to taxi out. Good thinking.
The RC Plane Restraint in the photo measures 15 inches wide by 20 inches tall, with 10‑inch ground stakes. Three sizes are available, and Steve guarantees it for your lifetime, which might end up being longer if you avoid injury by using his product.
Sometimes I hear modelers say, "I could just make one of those myself," but would it look as nice and work as well as this one? Check out the Web site, and one way or another, please make sure your flying machine is well secured.
The other two photos depict rare subjects. Ya gotta admit that you don't see a catapult‑launched free‑flight foam Zeppelin glider every day. A good friend of mine gave it to me; it does fly, and no, it does not need helium! I'll try to justify putting it in the safety column by pointing out that our hobby has few boundaries and anything you can dream up can probably be made to fly.
We need to match this limitless fun with a cautious attitude that matches our models. Different aircraft have different ways to make trouble. A canard pusher requires a different starting drill from a conventional airplane. The same goes for jets, tandem‑rotor helicopters, and tandem‑rotor jet helicopters (if they exist yet).
Think things through, and adjust your routine to match your model so you can enjoy reading this column instead of starring in it.
Youth involvement and achievements
A real rarity is a bunch of middle school kids who build and fly their own models! Shown is the Yellowjacket Wing of the Black Sheep Squadron from Luther Burbank Middle School in California. With the support of science teacher par excellence Joseph Reed, these youngsters constructed a trio of Hangar Rats and entered an international postal contest.
CD Jim Arthur, of the Stick and Tissue Fledgling Flyers (STIFFs), said that they dominated the Junior division. Actually, they comprised the Junior division. Still, getting a 39‑second ROG (rise‑off‑ground) flight in a gym with volleyball nets and crowds of fans was no picnic.
These kids did the construction and repair work themselves, using razor blades and super glue with proper care and no injuries. One lad asked me about RTF models and said, "You mean it comes already built? Eeewww!" Way to go, kid.
It is just as easy to draw young people into any other aspect of aeromodeling. Fixed‑wing RC, helicopters, and soaring are fascinating, and too many of today's kids have never been exposed to such things. Video games are a poor substitute for the thrill of flight, and we strengthen our hobby's future when we share our fun with newbies.
Spam, computer safety, and business practices
I seem to end each column with a rant lately, but this one comes from the heart. Apparently there are computer programs that harvest E‑mail addresses on a subject‑specific basis for use by unscrupulous businesses. Unsolicited spam E‑mail advertisements are regularly sent to my MA‑column E‑mail address, because some machine figured out that it is associated with model aircraft.
I'm not referring to legitimate messages from hobby distributors about items to plug. These are clearly mass‑mailed in the hope of finding inexperienced computer owners who can be tricked into thinking that the message was directed only to them.
Sometimes it will be an ad from a factory in China aimed at hobby importers and distributors, and sometimes it is for a specific product that may not even exist but can be ordered easily. Type in your credit card information and the adventure begins.
I have even received spam from local companies that should know better. When contacted for comment, they weakly claim that they spam only previous customers, but when pressed they will admit to gathering new addresses from Web sites and chat rooms online. "Don't worry," they say, "all you have to do is visit our Web site and click to be removed from our list."
I ask if they follow through that way with each spam message they receive. Nope! They know that such lists are compiled not just for sending advertising, but have also been used for more nefarious purposes such as phishing and Trojan horse attacks. A request for removal is sometimes seen as confirmation that an E‑mail address is active and results in a deluge of further messages.
Computer safety is a serious matter. Spam is at best an irritating time waster and at worst a direct threat to your system and financial privacy. Reputable companies use legitimate advertising methods because they want to sell products rather than generate suspicion and resentment in potential customers.
I eagerly read bulletins from hobby suppliers with whom I have registered and spend plenty of money online, but not with an outfit that sends spam. I will not plug their products, on the assumption that their advertising techniques might be representative of their business practices.
MA
Sources
Dave Gee Box 7081 Van Nuys, CA 91409
Jack Knife Machine Shop (301) 643-0227 www.jackknifemachineshop.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
