John Preston

FOLLOW-UP on explosions and fire. In the October 1986 issue, this column carried reports of explosions and fires associated with glow fuel cans. Several readers of that issue sent letters which offered some explanations concerning these hazards and advised how to minimize the possibility of this happening to you. First, let me quote from a letter from Jim Marble, a modeler from Aurora, IN who had some comments on the fuel can fire in the basement of a modeler who had left the flying field because of an impending thunderstorm. For those who don't keep back issues of their magazines, this incident involved an almost empty fuel can which, when a modeler attempted to unscrew the cap to refill it while in his basement workshop, resulted in ignition of the fuel vapor in the can and caused severe second-degree burns to his hand. Jim had the following to say:

PILOT PROTECTION. A couple of weeks ago I had an interesting telephone conversation with J.R. Griffith, down in Texas, who is an executive committee member of the Austin RC Club. J.R. called to seek my opionion concerning a controversial issue that has divided the club's members into two camps. I would like to ask readers if they agree with my response to J.R. Here's the story: The Austin club flies from a runway that is 300 feet long by 50 feet wide. The RC pilots are located some 60 feet from the edge of the runway. Recently, the club installed concrete pads for the pilots to stand on which project about three inches above the ground. Apparently these pads have caused some damage to out-of-control models when the models ran into them. Some club members want to surround the concrete pads with dirt ramps so that, instead of colliding with the edge of the pad, an out-of-control model will merely run up the ramp and across the pad.