Safety Comes First - 2010/02

Dave Gee | Safety Comes First [email protected]
Also included in this column:
• Save that “cold one” for after
the flying session
• Twisting the truth out of
coded bolt heads
• Jet crash ignites controversy
How to safely land 75% of an RC airplane
Desert FF modelers must dress the part. Karl Gies is well protected from the heat and
sun as he launches his winning Lanzo Duplex. Photo by Lee Onishuk.
A READER and I corresponded about an
amazing video that he sent me. It was
filmed during an RC Aerobatics
competition. The models were Giant Scale
replicas of modern aircraft, and the pilot
in the video was so spectacularly skilled
that I felt like a complete doofus by
comparison. (My flying pals would say
there is good reason for this feeling.)
The reactions of the crowd could be
heard as he guided the airplane through
incredible maneuvers. No full-scale pilot
could survive the stunts that this model
performed.
I thought about how strongly built the
high-powered aerobatic aircraft must be to
remain intact through such violent twists
and turns. How could it withstand the
stress? It couldn’t.
A wing tore off in midroll. The model
began to fall as the racing engine pulled it
into a spin.
The crowd gasped, but the video
soundtrack also captured a comment about
how a pilot this good might somehow be
able to save his aircraft. This was the
point that my friend debated through
several e-mails.
What should the pilot do? What would
you do? I would set the transmitter down
and find a broom and dustpan, because
that model would be toast.
In the video, I watched the pilot prove
that his skills were even sharper than the
Aerobatics routine showed. The camera
remained on the airplane, and it was clear
that the pilot was trying to regain control.
The other flying surfaces remained intact,
and the RC system was working, so he
was able to stabilize the spinning aircraft
into something approaching controlled
flight.
Now came another debatable decision.
Some would say that the model should be
guided far from the crowd and planted
where it could do no harm. A few might
suggest a try at the landing strip, which is
much closer to the crowd. A damaged
airplane that is not under full control
shouldn’t be flown toward people, right?
The video showed the pilot turning his
model away from the crowd, getting it
somewhat stabilized, and then testing the
controls to see what options he had. The
crippled aircraft was descending rapidly,
but at the last moment it flared and made
an astounding three-point landing. The
crowd went wild!
There was a dirt area on the far side of
the runway, and this was where the model
landed. I counted the steps of the guys
who walked to the airplane and verified
that there was a great deal of distance
between the onlookers and the spot the
pilot had selected. That flier’s quick
thinking showed that his judgment under
pressure matched his flying skill. He
handled each stage of the emergency in a
way that ultimately allowed him to save
his aircraft without endangering the
audience.
My correspondent and I each watched
the video several times. It isn’t fair to
second-guess someone after the fact, since
we were seeing the event in leisurely slow
motion and did not have to deal with the
surprise and urgency.
I tend to handle a crisis with
immediate panic. At least this makes me
consistent. My friend thought that it
would have been best to crash the
damaged airplane immediately (which I
would have done automatically through
lack of talent) and as far from the people
as possible. He softened a bit when we
saw how far away the landing spot was,
but the issue is a good one for discussion.
What would you do in such
circumstances? It is useful to think these
things through beforehand. In an
emergency there is no time to ponder the
options. Perhaps a bench-flying session
with friends would be the right time to
hash it out.
Most of us will experience some type
of in-flight emergency someday. Fullscale
pilots practice and plan for
everything possible to go wrong, so they
already know what to do.
February 2010 97
Ever wonder what the markings mean on a
bolt head? It means they are stronger than
the $1-a-set kind. Don’t skimp!
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98 MODEL AVIATION
If you talk about this at your club
meeting, please let me know how it went
and what points were made. My e-mail is
in the column header and an address for
paper letters is at the end.
Another Internet discussion with readers
raised some questions about drinking and
flying. Let’s use the term “Flying Under
the Influence,” or FUI, since it neatly
covers alcohol, drugs (prescription and
other), and any other substance of which
one can partake that might impair a pilot’s
judgment.
The latest version of the AMA Safety
Code reads, “I will not operate my model
while under the influence of alcohol or
while using any drug which could
adversely affect my ability to safely
control the model.”
That’s ironclad, right? Well, there has
been some debate about possibly
improving the wording of this rule, and
also how to enforce it.
It was pointed out that we (club
leadership at the RC field) are not lawenforcement
officers or medical
professionals and are therefore unqualified
to determine who is “chemically
impaired” and who is not. Airline pilots
have to abstain from alcohol for a set
number of hours before flight. This is
easier to enforce, because it requires only
a clock—not a blood test. Seems like a
less effective way for RC pilots, though.
Many model aircraft hobbyists have
enjoyed a cool one in the pits after a
flying session, but the problem arises
when the beverage (or whatever) was
enjoyed before a flight. It is further
complicated by the social situation at
some fields. We are with a bunch of pals
who think like we do, and friends might
look the other way as we all bend the rules
(and an elbow) together. Who is going to
step forward and ruin a moment like that?
That’s why the Safety Code exists, to
have a set of impartial standards that we
can use instead of subjectively deciding
that our buddy is a great guy and
shouldn’t have to forgo his turn at the
flightline just because he had a couple of
beers.
I’m afraid that this is one of those nocompromise
issues. I think that the Safety
Code wording is proper and enforceable,
and I endorse the concept of abstinence
until after flying.
Why push the matter? Someone who
insists that he or she cannot enjoy a flying
session without chemical enhancement
before or during flight might make people
suspect a deeper problem. After the
airplanes and helicopters are safely landed
(or in my case rekitted), we’ll all sit down
together for some beverages and
storytelling. Make mine a root beer,
please.
Have you ever seen that chart posted in
florists’ shops that tells the meaning of
various flowers? It gets specific; if you’re
careful, you can choose a bouquet that
says “Sorry I forgot to tape your favorite
show last night while you were out
bowling, darling.”
Those flower charts look simple in
comparison to the markings found on the
heads of hardened steel bolts. There are
several code systems worldwide, with
markings to indicate the material,
hardness, strength, and manufacturer of a
fastener.
You can use the Internet to track down
the “grade” of a bolt you have or to find
what type you need for a particular use.
Certain markings might indicate an
extremely strong bolt, but sometimes they
can be brittle or have other limitations.
The code is often marked as radial
lines cast into the bolt head. Their
arrangement has meaning, as do the
numbers and letters you might see.
Regular hardware-store bolts will
likely have no markings because they are
standard “Grade 2” fasteners. If a part
came out of a box of assorted nuts and
bolts from the dollar store, odds are that
you have a low-quality part indeed.
This subject came up in an e-mail from
an experienced modeler who had an
engine test-stand failure. The rig was old,
heavily built, and used for many years.
One day the oversized bolts decided that it
was time for a break, and they did!
We tend to be trusting of our old,
reliable tools, and their failure can be
quite a shock, especially if it involves a
screaming gas engine. Who would have
thought to inspect those bolts for
microscopic cracks?
I’m not smart enough to read the
coding and tell the particular steel alloy of
a bolt, what treatments it has had, or if it
is Grade 2, 4, or 8. Nor can I calculate the
proper part for a given usage.
For this reason, I tend to overengineer
things with a much stronger fitting than is
needed. At least that way, I know (or
hope) that the system will fail elsewhere
before my bolt breaks. Still, as the original
story indicates, it isn’t the worst thing to
occasionally inspect our tools and
equipment for problems.
One of the photos shows a few coded
bolts I found in my workshop, along with
a dollar-store cheapo pack of
questionable-quality nuts and bolts. These
certainly have their uses, but not on
anything that moves or flies. Our engine
mounts deserve the best.
Another picture shows Karl Gies
launching his Lanzo Duplex, which won
the Four Ounce Wakefield Event at the
2009 SAM Champs. This event took place
in inhospitable conditions in the middle of
the desert.
Karl is no newcomer to FF and is
decked out in serious protective clothing
for a long day in the sun. Nothing ruins a
triumphant awards ceremony like a painful
sunburn. Wonder if he brought that stylish
straw pith helmet all the way from home
in Missoula, Montana.
The last photo is a real attentiongrabber.
Here in California we have a
nearly year-round brushfire season,
broken only by our two-week-long winter
flood-and-mudslide season.
Ted Davis witnessed the crash of a jet
model into some dry grass and
photographed the aftermath. The aircraft
went in right after takeoff, so it had a full
load of fuel, which ignited. Local
modelers were unable to control the fire.
This field is located close to a big fire
department helicopter base, so air support
soon arrived to help the ground units. The
burn area was small because of the rapid
response, but it is a black eye for local RC
fliers nonetheless. MA
Sources:
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
An RC jet did a crash-and-burn into dry brush, resulting in quite a show but bad publicity
for the local field. Ted Davis photo.
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