Author: Dave Gee
Edition: Model Aviation - 2011/11
Page Numbers: 96,98
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Safety Comes First — 2011/11

Weighing risk management

All right class, the subject for today is risk management. This refers to figuring out the chances of an accident, the consequences if it occurs, and then taking the appropriate level of care to avoid it. Here on the chalkboard are some good and bad examples.

Case number one — At the flying field

I'm wandering around in the RC pit area with my camera, looking for a photo for next month's column. There are dozens of gas- and electric-powered models on tables or on the ground. Some pilots are prepping their aircraft for flight; others are talking or watching the action.

As I walk around, I try to be aware of nearby propellers. If something suddenly starts up, I could be in a tight spot. The pilot might not expect to see someone wandering through the area. I am even more cautious when I start taking pictures, because more of my attention is on the camera. Backing into a spinning propeller would not do!

The odds of me stepping into an airscrew are pretty high, and if I did there would be harm to the propeller and to my ankles. Risk management says this is a time to pay more attention to the danger than to my camera. Get the picture if possible, but don't get in the way of any models or pilots.

Case number two — At work

A big conference was coming up, and a supervisor who knew about my model airplane addiction asked me to start the meeting with an indoor banner-tow flight with a company slogan. No problem! I've done indoor demonstrations many times, with words and logos printed on wings and/or towed behind a model.

After measuring the room, I was deciding whether to use my trusty ParkZone Vapor or an ultra-lightweight free-flight Pennyplane model. The Vapor is simple to fly (lucky for me) and easily handles a tissue-paper banner or flag. With a flying speed of 1 mph and 15 grams all-up weight, the danger to spectators is minimal—really minimal.

A higher-up supervisor heard about the planned flight and told me in no uncertain terms that the risk was far too great and there would be no model flying in the building. Not a 15-gram RC airplane, not even a 4-gram Pennyplane rubber aircraft. Apparently someone could be maimed. I was speechless, which does not happen often. The chance of anyone being bumped by either of the models was slight, and the odds of injury were virtually nil.

Proper risk management means knowing the difference between caution and paranoia. Please, let's not go overboard with safety overkill! Use risk management to determine when to worry about something and when to relax. Keep a realistic viewpoint of our hobby activities, and don't sweat the small stuff.

Planned for a crash vs. planning to crash

Matt Knowles sent me a sad but funny email about an incident at his local field. Someone had crashed and totaled a very nice airplane. Matt wrote: "As the pilot started off to pick up the mess about a hundred yards out, another fellow in the pits called out to ask if he wanted a trash bag. Our recent crasher readily accepted the offer, knowing he had a few handfuls of splinters and such to gather up. That was the sad part."

Meanwhile in the pits, another guy began a story about how he had figured out, after so many crashed models, that he could help himself out by enclosing a trash bag in the tail section of his models. Rather than hike out to look at the wreckage and then back to get a bag, he just figured he would pack one into the airframe before covering the model. That way, the bag was already at the crash site.

Matt had mixed feelings about this fatalistic attitude. He said it somehow implied planned crashing. I think there is a difference between planning for a crash and planning to crash. Full-scale aircraft carry parachutes and first-aid kits, but that doesn't mean that the pilots plan to end up in a tomato patch. The stuff is there just in case they do.

I suppose you could argue that the extra weight of a "body bag" packed into a model's fuselage would make it that much more likely to crash. In my case, I'd have to add underwing hardpoints to mount a dustpan and broom.

EAA Chapter 96 Fly-In and RC Expo at Compton Airport

I saw a good balance of caution and fun at the recent EAA Chapter 96 Fly-In and RC Expo at Compton Airport in California. Those EAA folks are organized and put on a fine show. They invited the Santa Fe Dam Radio Control Modelers club to display model aircraft alongside the full-scale airplanes.

The RC pilots put on some terrific flight demonstrations, too. The crowd loved seeing impossible helicopter maneuvers, roaring giant-scale gas models, and speedy aerobatic jets. Even with a proper buffer zone, the models can safely perform closer to the spectators than "real" airplanes, and of course they can do crowd-pleasing stunts without all the permits and red tape that manned aerobatics require.

My favorite part was when the banner-tow airplanes zoomed down and picked up giant advertisements. It wasn't a formal part of the show, but what a spectacular maneuver!

The crowd had access to the large and small aircraft and a good view of the flight demos, but I noticed that safety had been carefully considered by the organizers. Flight and taxi paths were set at a correct distance from roped-off observation areas. Monitors enforced safety rules and kept an eye on things. Nobody wanted to have an incident, only fun.

Kids' build-and-fly program

I saw all of this from a distance because I got involved with the kids' build-and-fly program. My day was spent in a hangar amid a swarm of balsa gliders. We hung a hula hoop so the young pilots had a target and they flew models through it by the dozen. Jim Stothers and his staff of volunteers ran the kids' program with patience and good humor.

Much of the hangar was filled with half-built aircraft projects, and some of the kids tried to get their models to fly into the rows of airframe components, just so they could get a closer look as they retrieved their airplanes. The EAA builders were willing to gamble on some minor damage to their precious creations so the kids could have a place to fly models during the event. Now that's risk management!

Barnaby Wainfan, an old modeling friend, came by the model-building area to chat and mentioned that in the corner of the hangar, under a tarp, was his original prototype Facetmobile, awaiting further repairs and new covering. The wingless aircraft once made a forced landing but its innovative structure protected Barnaby from harm.

No, he did not have a trash bag in the airplane when he went down. I had to go take a peek, and sure enough there was the famous and much-modeled experimental lifting-body aircraft. Yup, it was a fun day.

Those kids building and flying their first airplanes represent the future of our hobby. Do you realize that they were using a century-old model design to learn? That is the marvelous thing about our sport: ancient history overlaps the present and future of our little flying machines.

Photos, models, and modern technology

Take a look at this month's photos. The man launching a rubber model is Don Martin, and he was taking part in a unique event. Once a year, hundreds of modelers worldwide launch Cloud Tramp old-timer rubber models at the same moment.

The Memorial International Mass Launch of Cloud Tramps is a tribute to designer Charles H. Grant, and keeps that Golden Age of modeling alive in the hearts and workshops of many enthusiasts.

And how about this for a bridge across the years: one model had strips of carbon-fiber reinforcement on the motorstick. That definitely was not in the original 1954 plans.

If a worldwide mass-launch of rubber-powered airplanes is the past, then that grinning guy in the photograph holds the present day in his hand. Tony Naccarato showed me his new Sky Cruiser, a Cox electric-powered RC sailplane that is ready to fly. After seeing him send it rocketing into the sky, I had to get one of my own.

The power-to-weight ratio of modern electric power systems is spectacular, and Cox took advantage of the very latest technology. The airplane comes with a three-channel, 2.4 GHz radio. Such a radio has made frequency interference a thing of the past (with apologies to the pilots who still prefer 72 MHz systems).

The latest automatic battery charger is included, and the model is fully set up for a first flight that even a schlub like me can survive. The propeller has a clever knock-off feature and is arranged as a pusher to reduce the chances of a newbie pilot's propeller strike. And yes, it will thermal when you turn off the motor.

If this is state of the art, imagine what wonders those glider-tossing kids will see if they grow up to be aeromodelers!

MA

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.