Safety Comes First
A NEW ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER-The monthly magazine, Sport Aviation, produced by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), contains a regular column titled "Sport Pilot Medicine," which is written by Doctor Stanley R. Mohler, MD. In the February, 1985 issue, Dr. Mohler had some things to say about aspartame which I feel are of benefit to model airplane pilots. Aspartame is marketed under the brand name of "Nutrasweet" and is found in a number of diet soft drinks. One of its advantages is that (from my experience) it doesn't have that metallic aftertaste that is associated with some other artificial sweeteners. However, in response to some questions concerning aspartame, Dr. Mohler states that he did some checking and ". . . I found that there are numerous reports by persons who have experienced visual impairment, dizziness, loss of equilibrium, or disorientation following its use.
Safety Comes First
AMA SAFETY CODE. Item number three of the Radio Control section of the Safety Code states: "I will perform my initial turn after takeoff away from the pit, spectator, and parking areas, and I will not thereafter perform maneuvers, flights of any sort, or landing approaches over a pit, spectator, or parking area." Several letters (and even some club rules) have indicated that the above directive is not always followed. I think its intention is pretty obvious. If you avoid flying over people, you minimize the posibility of hitting someone with your model, should it get out of your control for whatever reason.
Safety Comes First
RC SAFETY. The November 1985 issue of Model Builder magazine contained a letter (see "Bill Northrop's Workbench," page 6) to the publisher from Dave Abbe expressing some concerns about the safety of RC model aircraft operation. Dave cited a number of reasons for the criticism that he aimed at RC equipment manufacturers, the news media, and our national organization. His letter concluded with the following: "I strongly recommend that the following steps be taken: A national radio control safety effort be launched with a committee of representatives from the national clubs (modelers), manufacturers (suppliers), and insurers to develop and maintain acceptable standards for the RC hobby as sanctioned in a publicly-organized fashion and targeted on the 1991 frequency rules implementation.
Safety Comes First
CORRECTION: I recently received a letter from Glenn Scillian concerning a report of an accident he had while flying an RC Helicopter that I reported in this column in the January 1986 issue of Model Aviation. It seems that my report of his accident was completely wrong and may be a disservice to RC Helicopter builders and fliers. My previous report stated that Glenn was struck in the leg by an unweighted rotor blade which was thrown off one of his models. Not so. Glenn states in his letter that he was struck by a one-ounce lead weight which had come loose from one of the rotor blades. In his letter to me, Glenn enclosed a copy of a letter that he wrote in November 1984 to Larry Jolly in which he described the accident.
Safety Comes First
TOGETHERNESS. On a number of occasions in the past few months I've read newspaper accounts concerning parts of full-scale aircraft falling off in flight. I don't believe that any of these incidents involved any loss of life or even any injuries, but certainly the potential for injury exists when a critical component such as part of a wing flap separates, as was reported in one case. I believe that a potential for injury could also result if a vital component of a model airplane is shed during flight. Back in the December 1985 issue I described an incident which resulted in the crash of a modeler's CAP 21 and which was allegedly due to engine vibration causing self-tapping screws holding the aileron servo together to loosen during flight. In the December column I asked if any readers had experienced a similar problem, and I received only one letter of response.
