Safety Comes First - 2012/12

don’t pretend to be an impartial
journalist. When news arrived that
members of the Channel Islands
Condors model club were being kicked
off their flying field, you can bet that
I was biased in their favor. I think that
it is terrible to close their airfield of
approximately three decades.
As of press time, the new landowner
claimed that models posed a fire hazard
as a way to make the land available for
other uses. The outfit that opposes our
safe, fun, educational, and sporting hobby
is the California State University, Channel
Islands (CSUCI).
The RC club organized an in-person
protest to accompany an AMA-backed
email campaign. The members brought
models and signs to the campus on student
registration day and handed information
pamphlets to everyone they met. The
demonstration was highly organized, with
polite and friendly protestors making a
fine impression as representatives of our
harmless and beneficial sport.
My favorite moment was when air
support arrived. A full-scale airplane towed
a banner through the sky over the campus,
letting everyone know what the landlords
were doing.
Are model aircraft a fire hazard to
the open land around a flying field? No.
The record shows that our models are
extremely safe, especially when compared
to other land uses and activities. CSUCI
officials highlighted two incidents out
of more than 800,000 safe flights from
Condor Field to portray the modelers as
unsafe and unwelcome.
Lawrence Tougas was at the
demonstration in his official capacity as
AMA District X vice president. He and I
discussed the relative hazards of gas versus
electric power systems. We realized that
our opinions regarding the fire danger issue
are formed by the nature of our personal
experiences.
My own perceptions are colored by the
emails I get from readers, full of disastrous
stories. Accidents and fires are rare in RC
flying, but I read
and hear so many
anecdotes that I
tend to focus on the
few problems rather
than the majority
of trouble-free, safe
recreation.
Lawrence is
an experienced
RC flier and has
seen many things
throughout the
years, including the
development of
electric power into
the standard for
most of our aircraft.
He said that the
two power systems
have different
things to watch
for, and any fire
danger the electric
aircraft possess is
more likely to come after a crash rather
than during fueling, as with gas-powered
models.
Are electric models more dangerous
than gas models? Do they represent
a greater fire hazard than wet-fueled
aircraft? I don’t think so. Large battery
packs hold plenty of energy, but the hazard
is not any less manageable than the gas
tank of an internal-combustion model.
Lawrence and I agreed that whatever
fire hazard is present in a model aircraft
can be held to a minimum by careful
planning, such as using redundant RC
components for larger models. In case of
trouble, an airplane that remains controlled
will land on the runway.
Geography could have a lot to do with
it. We seem to have dry brush most of the
year in California, and people are highly
aware of ignition sources. Some parts of
the country don’t need to worry about
such things—at least in certain seasons.
A particular field might have a greater or
lesser fire danger in the surrounding land.
A club with a runway next to desert sand
or a body of water doesn’t have to worry
much about brush fires. If potential danger
from models can get a field closed, then we
should look at some other options to get
new fields opened.
Finding New Fields
Tony Stillman arranged for an AMA
booth at the recent League of California
Cities convention in San Diego. A pair of
intrepid local Flying Aces Club members,
George Mansfield and John Hutchison,
volunteered to work with me and make
contacts with government officials.
The plan is to put them in contact with
clubs in their area and see if underutilized
city facilities can be transformed into flying
sites. Tony says this tactic has worked well,
but it was the first try in the Golden State.
The booth was done “on the cheap,” with
only local AMA members. No AMA staff
from Muncie, Indiana, attended.
I flew an RC airplane and helicopter in
the booth to attract an audience. It workedgreat! The models drew people and we
ended with a stack of filled-out interest
forms. Maybe there will be a few new
model airfields as a result.
George and John made great
ambassadors. They devoted their talents
for two days of preparation, booth work,
and cleanup. Because they are both FF
pilots, they didn’t notice how bad I was
on the sticks. The models were a Vapor
airplane and Blade helicopter. Both are
lightweight and harmless.
I enjoyed flying those models, and
heartily recommend them. My trusty
ParkZone Vapor has traveled across the
country with me and is a joy to fly. The
Blade heli is a pip. It’s perfect for small
indoor spaces, although a convention
booth is pushing it. Both aircraft are so
lightweight and low powered that I can’t
imagine them hurting anyone.
Larger, electric models are a different
matter. I displayed a park flyer in the
booth, but left the battery at home, to be
safe. I wouldn’t have wanted that model’s
motor to turn on in a crowd. That much
power can cause trouble if you’re not
expecting the propeller to run.
Mad Propellers
In a recent discussion about electricpowered
models and propeller strikes,
I neglected to mention the most basic
precaution for avoiding injury from
sudden motor startups: remove the
propeller when you are not flying!
Working on an electric model is safer
when the propeller is on the table. This is
obvious, but I forgot it and many readers
reminded me!
The first was Bob Constance, who
followed up on that wise suggestion with
another warning. Bob uses the rubberband
trick on his transmitter, keeping the
throttle lever down where it should be
until he is ready for takeoff.
The rubber band rubbed against the
trim tab once, and his model left the
ground with full right-rudder trim!
He said that 40 years of practice aided
him in getting the aircraft down in one
piece, but that didn’t help him avoid the
excitement in the first place. You can bet
that he added trim check to his preflight
inspection list.
Bob also had an incident in which
his airplane attempted to fly in his
workshop during radio programming. The
electric motor went to full throttle, but
the workbench was not a long enough
runway, so the model ended up on the
floor with a broken propeller and a bent
motor shaft. Bob says it was a valuable
lesson for him. There were no injuries, but
he gained some knowledge.
Russ Stanton also reminded me about
removing the propeller, and added his
own story, which kept him (but not me)
in stitches.
“I’ve only been in RC for five or six
years. I was programming the ESC on my
Leader 480. With no warning, the motorstarted up instead of going into program
mode. The plane fl ew into my stomach
and cut me in about four places.
”Sometime later, as if I hadn’t learned
anything, I was working on my Dynam
Peaks biplane. The battery was plugged
[in] and I was getting ready to set up the
plane in my transmitter.
“I put the transmitter into program
mode and went to select the model. I hit
the wrong button and the motor started
up at full throttle. The plane fl ew right
into my hand this time. I ended up with
25 stitches and a lot of hours at the ER.
“The lesson I learned was to either face
the plane away from [you] while working
with the battery installed, or remove the
prop.”
Ashwath Nityanandan had another
good piece of advice for electric models.
He says that it is simple insurance to put
a 10-gram arming switch on the throttle
signal line. Ash says that he would not
dream of fl ying anything with more than
100 watts without one.
Jay Beasley chimed in and said that
“the rubber-band trick is good but notWoundSeal to the Rescue
Jim Rose recommended a product that
I have heard of but never tried for when
things go wrong. WoundSeal is good for
when all of our care and precautions have
failed, and we need to treat a minor cut.
This material is said to stop the bleeding
and form a protective artifi cial scab within
minutes. Several other people also have
recommended it.
Check out the website, which is listed in
“Sources,” and see if it might be something
you want to keep in your medicine kit. I
bought some and hope to never fi nd out
how well it works.
Please send me your suggestions, close-call
stories, and wisdom. I’ll gratefully share
good stuff with the readers. You can get
the credit or keep your name out of it,
whichever you prefer!