Safety Comes First - 2011/05

90 MODEL AVIATION
TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS are the bane of the publishing
world. One little goof and I get waves of semihumorous e-mail
messages from
friends reminding
me that perfection is
hard to achieve.
Some MA readers
save each issue, so
any errors in this
column can be
rediscovered by
future generations of
modelers. Oh
goody.
This gripe was
prompted by the
caption of a recent
photograph of an Indoor Glider taken by Brian Furutani. It included
the phrase “these models can fly for up to 30 minutes,” which would
be a long Glider flight indeed. If the line had read “some indoor FF
models can do 30 minutes,” then all would be well.
Thirty seconds is an exceptional glider duration at most indoor
sites, but this particular tip-launch Glider belongs to Stan
Buddenbohm, who set a world record of 143 seconds under the 150-
foot ceiling of a blimp hangar. Amazing!
I can hardly wait until my next Indoor Glider contest attempt.
Jokes will be made at my expense about how my model is not
performing up to expectations, and how I need to squeeze that last
29 minutes and 40 seconds out of each flight.
And for the record, the only time any model of mine stayed up
for 30 minutes, it was caught on a rafter.
On the subject of perfection, there are some safety situations in our
hobby that demand a zero-defect mind-set. Pilots who fly larger
Rubber FF models have to stretch the motors during winding to pack
in maximum turns.
Unless a trusting and adventuresome friend is available, some
sort of mechanical “stooge” is used to hold the other end of the
aircraft. These airplanes carry powerful hanks of rubber that often
have metal hooks on the end to fit the winder. If something goes
Dave Gee | Safety Comes First [email protected]
“Thirty seconds over typo”
Also included in this column:
• Dave’s favorite stooge
• Fail-safe as a throttle lock?
• A little scratch becomes a
big problem
A simple hobby-knife cut became infected and life-threatening.
Skip Severance recovered, but it was too close.
These lads built an all-balsa sport model with their middle school
model club, using standard grown-up tools and CA glue. It looks
like a good flyer.
wrong, a great deal of energy can be released directly toward the pit
crew.
I followed a fun thread about these stooges on an Internet chat
site. Everyone has a favorite type. One fellow uses a clever
wooden unit that slips over his partially rolled-down car window.
There was discussion about how much force it would take to break
the glass!
Another flier mounts the stooge on his trailer hitch, which
seems like a sturdier spot. More common are stooges that are
secured to the ground by tent stakes or the pilot’s foot.
Most Rubber models have a hollow rear peg of aluminum or
steel through which a wire can be
passed, and the stooge has
vertical plates that hold both
ends of the wire.
No matter how
wide or adjustable
you make your
stooge, it often seems that your
new airplane won’t quite fit.
Most of my models are
smaller, so I can get away with
a much more casual winding
setup. For serious contest
situations, I have a
conventional tableclamp
stooge with
a torque
meter. But
the vast
majority of my
flying is for fun,
so I use a very
clever winder/
stooge combination tool that
my father custom-built.
It holds the winder in place,
and I pull the airplane away
with my free hand while I
Ralph Gee built this
“reverse” winding
stooge for Rubber
models. It holds the
motor/propeller end
and you pull the airplane
away to stretch and wind it.
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May 2011 91
this suffices to disarm the motor until I
can disconnect the battery. Plus, it also
prevents me from leaving my transmitter
turned on.”
This is a controversial way to do
things, and it may bring more trouble than
it saves. Everything depends on the failsafe
operating properly.
I’d like to hear from readers about this.
Please use either my e-mail or snail-mail
address.
George Schlanert had a piece of useful
info on this subject. He wrote:
“Hitec Radios have a lock button. My
wife and I have five Hitec Optic 6 radios
which we have used for years with many
aircraft. We use the lock switch and it has
always been reliable but we don’t rely on it.”
I was not aware of that feature, but it is
a great selling point for those radios.
For the horror fans among you, this
month I’ll wrap up with a terrifying story
from Skip Severance. I understand that he
is fully recovered now, thank goodness!
“I was working on an airplane in my
garage and accidentally drove a hobby
knife blade into my hand. It didn’t bleed
much, so I cleaned it and put some triple
antibiotic on it with a Band-Aid.
“It seemed like no big deal. It did go in
deep and I could feel tingling in my fingers
so I know I hit a nerve, but the feeling came
back so I know I did not cut it.
“As a few days passed, I started to see
redness so I went to the doctor. He said I
had an infection and gave me some pills.
What neither of us knew was the infection
was bad and was deep inside the hand. By
the time it came to the surface it was
serious.
“I went to the emergency room when
the pain set in. The plastic surgeon called
a hand specialist and within hours I was in
surgery.
“This was a serious invasive surgery
that required them to shut off the blood
flow to my hand so they could open it up.
They removed the infection but when they
took the tourniquet off to get the blood
flowing, that’s when my life almost ended.
“The circulating blood took the toxins
from the infection to my heart and
everywhere else. My blood pressure
dropped and my temperature soared, my
lungs starting filling with fluid, etc.
“The doctor said that 4 out [of] 10
people that get that kind of toxic shock
don’t make it. The Lord spared me and I
made it to intensive care and stayed for two
days before being released to come home.
“The picture you see was how my hand
actually looked during recovery. They left
it open so the infection wouldn’t be
trapped inside again. Surprisingly the pain
was very minimal.
“This morning as I was reading the
paper it was very strange going through
the obituaries and thinking I could have
been in there. Life is so precious and I
thank God for him giving me a second
chance.
“The moral of the story is don’t leave
blades lying around unprotected and don’t
wait too long to see the doctor.”
Skip had to do a complicated routine of
soaking the wound in chemicals several
times each day, as well as taking powerful
antibiotics, but eventually that hand healed
completely. Many of us have had a “minor”
injury similar to that, and after basic firstaid
we went on without a thought.
Skip was prudent to seek medical care
when there were signs of complication, but
even the doctor missed the true problem at
first. I’m glad that this story has a happy
ending and hope that some of us can avoid
our own adventure by using good judgment
when a “minor” injury occurs. MA
Sources:
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
AMA Radio Control Large Model Aircraft
Program:
www.modelaircraft.org/files/520-a.pdf
crank in the turns. One advantage is that if
the motor breaks, I am off to one side
instead of in line with the fast-moving
rubber. I’ve had to replace the yellow
winder part several times because it wore
out, but the wooden base is bulletproof!
Rubber-powered models are traditional
entry-level aircraft for kids. With these
airplanes, a newcomer can learn how to
build, handle, and adjust a model.
Sometimes they stick with FF in lieu of
RC, solely because of the addictive
challenge of old-school modeling.
That photo of the three boys with their
newly built model was taken at an old
school where I attended classes long ago.
They made that rubber-powered aircraft
as part of the science department’s model
airplane club, using standard modelbuilding
tools and modern CA glue with
accelerator.
If kids can learn to handle this stuff
safely, old fliers such as I have no excuse
for workbench accidents.
Robert Pease e-mailed me with a
comment on the controversy over
whether aeromodeling is a sport or a
hobby.
“So far I have not seen a sport shop
that carried model supplies or a hobby
shop that carried baseball bats,” he wrote.
“Call it what you like, just don’t ever take
the fun away.”
He has a point, but these days it’s
getting hard to find a hobby shop that
even carries balsa wood!
Of interest to RC pilots who prefer plussized
aircraft, the AMA Executive
Council has approved some changes to
the AMA Radio Control Large Model
Aircraft Program. It is greatly improved
and clarified.
By the time you read this, the updated
document will be available on the AMA
Web site.
Joe Chovan wrote about a technique he
uses to make sure his airplane’s motor
remains turned off when he approaches
the model.
“I’ve gotten into the habit of turning
off my transmitter when I’m through
flying and approach a model to change a
battery or perform another service. I rely
on the fail-safe throttle position (off)
which was programmed when I bound the
receiver to the plane. I started doing this
after a near-miss situation in which
thankfully the outcome was only a broken
prop.
“It’s an easy habit for me to learn,
since I know where the switch on my
transmitter is, and I don’t have to
consider a slightly different configuration
for each plane, which might be necessary
if a programmed or external hardware
switch were used.
“Transmitter power off is really motor
off, and unless I need to wiggle sticks,
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