Safety Comes First - 2011/06

82 MODEL AVIATION
by sharing the story, so keep trip hazards in
mind the next time you look for a spot to set a
model down!
Sometimes a small workshop produces
big aircraft, and it gets tough to manage them
in a limited space. I told my wife, Sweet
Diedra, that this story was justification for
keeping my airplanes in the living room, but
she said that they have to stay in the
workshop and if I need one stepped on, she’ll
be happy to do the job.
A good friend of mine, name withheld, is one
of the most cheerful, unassuming, yet
amazingly knowledgeable fellows you could
ever meet. He approached me with an offer to
photograph his hand for publication.
He reads this column and noticed that the
injury stories seem to end with complete
physical recovery and “no loss of movement
or sensation.” That is good news, but this
gentleman had an encounter with high-speed
machinery some 65 years ago and he did not
end up fully healed and restored.
The accident left him with a lifelong
reminder of a moment’s inattention. This man
has enjoyed a long, adventurous, and
fulfilling life, but there have been times when
he found himself limited by that old wound.
My friend is an exceptionally skilled
craftsman and produces magnificent static
and flying models, but he
says that his injury prevents
him from building
lightweight indoor aircraft.
“Anything under 5 grams
is out,” he told me, which is
possibly the only thing that
lets me have a chance at our
club’s indoor meets.
I SOMETIMES JOKE about how 3-D pilots
fly “flat models,” but Jim Riggle makes them
the hard way. He told me about an adventure
he had in the comfort of his workshop.
“I had my 25% Wedell-Williams on the
shop floor, in a place where I usually don’t
park an airplane. After I’d set a charger, I
turned around and tripped on the airplane.
Stepped right in the middle of the fuselage.
“The damage to the airplane was minor
compared to mine. I fell and hit my elbow
against the workbench, dislocating my
shoulder on the way down.”
Along with considerable physical pain,
Jim says that the hospital bill was much more
than the cost of the airplane. He did us a favor
Dave Gee | Safety Comes First [email protected]
A step in the wrong direction
Left: Flying a pusher model is an excellent way to prevent
propeller strikes. Dave’s indoor rubber-powered Curtiss
re-enacts a carrier takeoff. Michael Ramsey photo.
Also included in this column:
• Some injuries are permanent
• An icy adventure
• Vigilant or intrusive?
• Astounding: one of Dave’s
models flies!
Tripping over this model led
to serious human injuries too.
See text for details. Photo by
the victim himself, Jim Riggle.
Not all hand
injuries end with
a complete
recovery. This
modeler was
hurt 65 years
ago and urges us
all to be careful
around powerful
machinery such
as aero engines.
His was not a model airplane accident, but
the injuries are similar to a bad propeller
strike. The point is that not every story has a
nice, neat, happy ending. Please treat our
powerful engines, motors, and airscrews with
the utmost respect and care!
The cover date of this magazine speaks of
springtime, but here is a chilly wintertime
story for you. It comes from Mark Proper.
“I’ve been flying RC for over 20 years
and giant scale for 10 of those. At the risk of
public humiliation, I’d like to share
something that happened to me the other day.
My big new gas-powered Yak was ready for
a maiden flight. When it’s cold here in the
Great Lakes, the only places to fly are frozen
lakes and ponds.
“Upon arrival at the frozen flying site, I
put the truck in the ditch. As any anxious pilot
would, I didn’t let that stop me. I called AAA
and immediately unloaded the plane, hauled it
over to the ice, and got it all ready to go.
“Just when I’m ready to start the engine,
the AAA guy shows up to tow me out. I had
to stop what I was doing and talk with him.
At this point I am distracted.
“For the last two years I’ve been flying a
30% electric but today I’m flying a gassie and
forgot to bring a tether. I improvised a tether
from a tow strap and a steel stake and was
good to go. Hurry, not much daylight left!
“Now, this is where it gets interesting. I
was kneeling in front of the plane flipping the
prop. I adjusted the choke and I reached up to
flip it again but hesitated.
“I thought ‘Ya know, I probably shouldn’t
be kneeling in front of this plane with my face
in front of this propeller.’ So I got up and
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June 2011 83
flipped it once more from a standing position
and it fired right up.
“Good thing I did stand up because
unfortunately, the engine immediately went to
a high throttle. Yes, my throttle stick was all
the way down, and the channel wasn’t
reversed. For a split second I stood there
stunned. Then the tether stake that I
hammered into the frozen ground gave just a
little bit and the tether ring slipped up and off
of the icy metal stake.
“The tail of the model went up and the
plane began rolling toward me. As I tried to
get out of the way, the prop hit the snow and
ice and exploded. All of this happened in the
blink of an eye of course.
“Pieces of propeller went everywhere.
One piece hit me hard in the back of the
thigh, but luckily I was wearing heavy
overalls over my jeans. Luckily no pieces hit
me in the face, probably because I was
running for the hills.
“After the commotion stopped I checked
the plane and nothing else was damaged. I
wasn’t injured, except for my ego. I was very
lucky!
“I was anxious to fly, in a hurry,
distracted, and using makeshift equipment
while flying alone. The consequences could
have been much worse.”
Mark’s story is a classic close call from
which we can all learn. He is an unselfish guy
to send it for publication, but he knows that
the only good that can come of an incident is
if it can serve as a warning to other ice fliers.
If you have a run-in with misfortune,
please consider mailing or emailing me the
facts. Your fellow pilots will thank you for
sparing them a hard lesson.
I also welcome messages from readers who
have suggestions or complaints. There were
exactly two gripes from the recent story about
an AMA member who wrote to a helicopter
expert asking about getting a large, powerful
machine that could autonomously carry a
payload to a distant destination.
The questions didn’t sound like what a
hobbyist might ask, and a bit of Internet
research turned up only a vague website
under the fellow’s name. I agreed that the
situation was probably benign but that followup
by the proper authorities was warranted.
In these post-September 11 times, we
sometimes see things in a different light. Are
caution and vigilance wrong in this day and
age? I don’t think so.
A pair of readers came down on me for
this opinion, but I’m sticking with it. Imagine
how you’d feel if you had been one of the
flight trainers who taught terrorists to fly
airliners.
In the helicopter-question case, it turned
out that the intent of the new AMA member
was apparently to use autonomous RC
helicopters for commercial aerial
photography work. There are strict laws
regarding Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
operation, and AMA guidelines don’t
cover it.
One writer claimed that I had insulted the
AMA member by “calling him a terrorist,”
and that I had “just proved AMA is what it
is.” I will admit that AMA is what it is, and
I don’t deny it … whatever that means.
He also suggested that I “should take time
out to watch some RC YouTube videos and
see where the hobby is and what people are
doing with RC models today.” I do that
regularly, and although most of the videos are
great fun, a few are worrisome to anyone who
cares about the future of this sport. Some
people show things being done with models
that put the rest of us in a bad light, which is
my point exactly.
The other correspondent saw it from a
legal and political angle, and wrote that I
“continue to destroy our wonderful hobby”
and had “most likely ruined a person’s life
without a second thought” by agreeing that
the matter should be reported. I assure you
that I thought more than twice about the
situation, and I studied those emails many
times before making up my mind.
When asked how he would have handled
a similar technical inquiry, this person wrote:
“What would I have done? Nothing. From
a legal standpoint of view I have no ‘duty’ to
do anything.”
Wow! My response was that personally—
and as a citizen—I feel more responsibility
than that toward my fellow beings, and I will
protect and defend them when it is within my
power. In this case I happened to know
enough about model aviation to recognize at
least the possibility of trouble.
In the end, my concerns were somewhat
validated because the fellow’s plans were to
violate federal law and possibly endanger
full-scale aircraft. This was much less scary
than the worst case, of course, but isn’t it
better to help prevent trouble than to read
about it later?
I was amused that the second writer’s
guess about my political views was
completely wrong. In my opinion, partisan
politics is irrelevant to our hobby. I do not
expect my friends to agree with my politics,
only that they enjoy miniature flying
machines as much as I do.
Lastly and “leastly,” I’ve included a
photograph of my indoor rubber-powered
Curtiss Pusher, built to commemorate the
centennial of naval aviation. I constructed a
replica of the bow section of the cruiser
Birmingham so that a nervous photo image of
Eugene Ely could pilot this model off of a
tabletop at the 2011 AMA Expo.
I launched the thing at full power directly
into the crowd, but the danger was minimal
because of the pusher propeller and a fully
loaded weight of only 12 grams. It circled and
bumped a curtain, breaking the canard.
A close call? Nah.
Later, with more rubber and a lesscrowded
flying site, it did 40 seconds.
Michael Ramsey, who until recently was my
boss at MA, snapped the picture and caught
my friend, Don Butman, in the background,
looking astounded to see one of my models
actually flying. MA
Sources:
Dave Gee
Box 7081
Van Nuys CA 91409
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