Safety Comes First
ACCIDENT REPORT: Some readers may have seen in their local newspapers an Associated Press report about a settlement in a lawsuit that was the result of a death of a Virginia modeler who was struck by an RC model in July 1982. A brief report of this accident appeared in the Safety column in the October 1982 issue of Model Aviation. A number of club newsletters received by AMA HQ shortly after the accident occurred contained inaccurate reports on how the incident occurred. I wish to set the record straight by reporting what actually happened, in the hopes that a future incident of this type will not occur. The facts in the following account were obtained from eye witnesses, a report by a government agency, a police report, and from my own observations of the involved model airplane after the accident occurred.
Safety Comes First
CONSIDERING the amount of fuel that modelers consume during the course of a flying season and the casual manner in which many of us handle it, I hear of few incidents involving fires or explosions associated with this flammable liquid. One such incident, however, was reported to me a few weeks ago by Carl Begelman of Bayside, NY who spotted the following story in the New York Daily News on Sunday, April 7th. (It has been edited, slightly). EAGLE-EYE COP Saw `burglar,' makes rescue instead. A cop who ran into a West Side building after he thought he saw a burglar on a fire escape wound up rescuing a critically burned man from his blazing apartment. The 23-year-old occupant was critically burned about 2:00 p.m. when a can of model airplane fuel exploded in his face as he was testing a small engine in his apartment, police said. The blast sent flames throughout the railroad flat and left the man unconscious.
Safety Comes First
BAD STUFF? In the June 1985 Safety column I included a discussion on whether models containing boron filament should be banned from AMA-sanctioned competitions because of allegations concerning the safety of this product. I also asked for readers' answers to two questions: 1) Should models containing boron be outlawed from all AMA competition categories, or 2) Should models containing boron be outlawed from certain AMA competition categories? If so, which categories? Thirteen readers were kind enough to respond to these questions, and an additional reader, who didn't specifically respond to the questions, sent a letter on how to safely handle boron filament. Of the 13 who cast their vote, nine did not want to see boron banned at all, and four responded "yes" to question No. 1, meaning that models containing boron should not be permitted in any AMA competition category.
Safety Comes First
AIRLESS PAINT SPRAYERS. In previous safety columns I've mentioned the potential hazard of breathing vapors when certain kinds of paint are used for spray-painting model aircraft. However, there is another hazard concerning airless paint spray equipment that could result in a serious injury to the unwary, no matter what kind of paint is used. This came to my attention in a monthly newsletter put out by Howard Crispin, AMA District IV VP. A freiend of Howard's ended up in the hospital and came close to losing a finger after he grasped a high-pressure hydraulic line that, because it had a small leak, injected hydraulic fluid into his flesh. That's not an incident related to modeling, but the doctor who treated him stated ". . . that there are an increasing number of people being seen who are getting into this situation with spray-painting equipment." Although Howard's newsletter did not qualify what type of paint spray equipment was being used by the people whom the doctor had treated for paint injection injuries, I feel sure it had to be the airless type.
Safety Comes First
THE RC MODELER'S 10 COMMANDMENTS. A recent letter from Frank Wood, President of Meade Modelers (Ft. Meade, MD), enclosed a copy of 10 commandments which, if observed, should help avoid accidents related to our modeling activities. Although aimed primarily at the RC flier, many also apply to CL and FF activities. They are as follows: 1) Thou shall never absent thy gaze from thy aircraft while the engine is running-be it motionless or in motion, on the ground or in the air-on pain of death or injury to thyself, thy fellows, or thy aircraft. 2) Thou shall maintain thy aircraft with meticulous care, for the integrity of the whole dependeth on the smallest as well as the greatest of the parts, and failure to do so may cause thy creation of grace and beauty to become a ravening beast capable of great destruction.
