Safety Comes First-2011/11

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 is me at a 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 is me 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 RC ParkZone Vapor
or an ultra-lightweight FF 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
Also included
in this column:
• How to take photos
safely
• Pennyplane panic
• Airplane body bags
• A show with
airplanes of all sizes
• Kids are the future
Below: Around the world,
modelers launch classic
Cloud Tramps at the same
moment each year. Here,
Don Martin takes a test
flight as Don Butman gets
ready.
EAA Chapter 96 included
a kids’ build-and-fly model
program at the Compton
CA, fly-in. Mass launches
are chaotic but always a
hit!
Tony Naccarato
likes his new RTF
Cox SkyCruiser.
It’s a great model,
whether you’re a
beginner or an
expert.
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.
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.
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 ropedoff
observation areas. Monitors enforced safety
rules and kept an eye on things. Nobody
wanted to have an incident, only fun.
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 halfbuilt
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.
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 rubberpowered
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:
ParkZone
(877) 504-0233
www.parkzone.com
Cox Models
(217) 398-8970
www.coxmodels.com
Facetmobile
[email protected]
www.wainfan.com/facet.htm
EAA Chapter 96
[email protected]
www.eaa96.org
Santa Fe Dam Radio Control Modelers Club
http://sfdrcm.clubwebsource.com