zflarez

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like without the safety fence next to the runway. It seems like a plane skidds or crashes into it every time I am at the field and the posts brake the plane. Would it be that unsafe to just let the plane stop on its own, it is already on the ground.

CrashPro

My Feedback: (1)

uh.....if the plane didn't crash into the fence, would it not continue on into the pits?

zflarez

I am not saying a fence is not a good idea, but how ofton it seems to cause the damage to aircraft and not the bad landing. For instance, just today an aiplane came in hot and collapsed the landing gear. It procedes to slide right into the fence post and brakes the wing there. With the engine stopped from hitting the ground how much damage could it have caused if it somehow managed to slide thirty more feet. Also those fences are so low that any thing that is going to hurt anybody is going to be going over the fence and not into it. Maybe those safety fences could be made with another material to to provide more cushion to are airplanes. I fully understand that safety is the number one priority and that fences should be there, just wanted to question it and see what people on RCU think about it.

Mr67Stang

No fence at my field but have some tall grass between flight line and runway. We stand on the flight line side of the grass while flying. The grass is about 1 -2 ft tall and about 20 ft long by 10 ft wide. It has stopped my plane once and a couple others... no damge, no injuries.

CrashPro

My Feedback: (1)

I see what you're saying zflarez....at our field we have this orange plastic netting...and I've seen it stop many a plane from coming into the pits...as you see in this video,. http://home.dc.rr.com/maurie/CapCrack.wmv ..if the plane decided to turn left instead of right, hopefully it would have been stopped by the net and not gone between the pilots stations and into the pits. A barrier of some sort is a definate must. Perhaps you guys can switch to something like this. I've seen running engines go into this without even breaking a prop.....tho.. (yes, it does tear up the netting)

zflarez

But its those dang posts that wreck your plane

CrashPro

My Feedback: (1)

Agreed...I've seen a few wings smashed on them too...but had the planes not hit the posts, they would have continued on their path toward the pits. hmmm....foam padding on the posts maybe?

E-Mo

My Feedback: (12)

At our field the flight line is right on the run way. with no room for error when coming in on a cross wind landing I have had to yell out a couple times "LEFT RUDDER" as pilots sometimes do not notice they were drifting right into the fence.

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

What would you suggest? And who would pay for it?

The people who land farther out on the runway, even if they break landing gear, don't need to worry about additional damage from any fence. Would that not be good incentive to land farther out on the runway? I think the answer is, just avoid the fence.

Best wishes,
Dave Olson

2slow2matter

My Feedback: (1)

If you are hitting fences with planes hard enough to tear them up, then YES, I'd say they are necessary. Good luck putting up a fence without poles...

To avoid hitting fences, work on rudder control.

wiz310

A loosly hung fishing type net between the widely spaced poles would do the trick. pretty chaep and easy to errect.
even a couple of tennis type nets loosely strung would do it.
Just my 2 cents worth.

k3 valley flyer

My Feedback: (18)

For 35 years we have had no fences, no pilot stations, no runway, and no problems! Grass field and we change the flight line from east side to south side to west side of field depending on the wind! All take offs and landings are into the wind and away from the pits. Vehicles must drive on the edge of the field to get to flight line for that day, nice square 5 acre field, life is wonderful. I know this concept is sacrilege but it works and we believe much safer than the pilot station with the 24 inch fence, have never had a plane come into the pits on landing, have never had a serious injury. This is not a viable solution for all fields but does work for us, and we fly on very windy days when pilots at other fields have gone home. Replies about how bad this is are not necessary.

Troy-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

The best you could do is keep the webbing loosely hung and pad the posts. That's what some retrieval systems of UAVs use. Other than that, the fence needs to do its job and be strong enough to handle heavy planes and not fall apart over time. Depending on the size and landing speed of a plane, letting it stop on its own could lead to a nasty accident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6suh...%20747%20crash

Having said all that....

You now see why lawyers rule our lives. If you are relying on a fence to "gently" stop your plane then you need to work on landings some more. True, accidents happen...but that's why there's a fence.

I know your intent is to see if you can soften up the fence a little to avoid unnecessary damage to an accidental skid. It really depends on the field situation and if you fly at different fields you'll see an array of solutions.

K3 Valley is lucky to have a large open flight line, the runway I fly at has a very high fence because of its proximity to the runway. It needs large, sturdy posts to hold up the net and not topple over with wind.

CoastieTX

Well, what if you used that orange netting and somehow staked the bottom of it to the ground and then secured the top of it to a either a curved post or a "T" post. At ground level and up (except for the very top), there would be no post for the plane to collide with. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to fix some kind of horizontal bar on top of the stake/post to make a "T."

RaceCity

It may come as a surprise to some, but a safety barrier is not intended to protect the model. Rather, it is intended to protect nearby persons/property at risk of injury from an errant model. There are some for which there is no fence high enough.

Rather than re-design the barriers to protect models, and de-incentivize learning, it is far more beneficial to the health and longevity of your airplanes that one learns how to control them. If you cannot keep it out of the fence, please seek the assistance of an experienced modeler who can hook you up on the buddy box until you can.

The Toolman

If you use t-posts, put some of the 2" foam pipe insulation around them first. That will soften the blow a whole lot and probably help save the plane/wing from damage.


Ronnie

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

There really is a need for some safety barrier. At our club fun fly a couple weeks ago, I was glad we had a tall grass barrier between the runway and the pilot stations. I was flying, focused on my plane, when another club member was bringing in his plane. He had trouble, and ended up drifting toward my pilot station on approach. I stepped back a few steps, but it was still pretty close. He brought the plane down safely on the runway, without hitting the barrier, but it was a hairy few seconds.

Brad

Flying freak

I think that safty fencese are a good idea. about 2 weeks ago there was a fun fly at the local club there were 4 planes in the air and one about to take off. he makes it to the end of the runway turns it around, applyes power (he has been movving for a good 300 feet now) the left brake jams on his main geer causing it to sharply turn into the nets. yes it scared the sh*t out of the piolot but he wasnt hurt im sure that if that jet would have hit him it would have broken both his feet. (damage to the jet was limitted to 3 small chips in the fiber glass...)

Arrow IV

RaceCity is right on!! The fence is for us not the planes. Every club has got a few "Corkys", (from Life Goes On) and sorry boys not everybody was cut out to fly RC, (or drive for that matter in SW Florida) God help us!
Ever see what an "Airscrew" or better yet an "APC" does to flesh?? Keep the fence!! I rest my case!! Rubber side down Boys!!

LT-40

My Feedback: (2)

I agree that the fence is for the pilot's safety, but I also think that the fence should be airplane friendly also. I once had a cross wind landing when my plane was coming strait down the runway, but the plane wasn't pointed strait down it. So as soon as it met the ground, it made a hard left strait into the pilot fence before I had time to steer it out of the way. (tail dragger so the tail wheel isn't very efective at high speed). Unfortunatly it smashed right into one of those metal poles. I like the idea that wiz310 had about the tennis nets, that way there are only 2 poles, and they are very far appart. If you dont have an airplane friendly fence, then I suggest that you learn to use that rudder. Being fairly new to R/C my main focus right now is good rudder control.

agexpert

My Feedback: (1)

Um...I think barriers are a very necessary piece of safety equipment. If you are worried about damaging your plane, land it on the runway. (Mechanical failures are your fault too).

LT-40, you will learn to use that rudder just fine. Practice crosswind landings often and when in doubt, land beyond the pilot stations.

jetboy2003

We grow about waist-high bushes on our field, they work perfect as safety fences. They don't damage aircraft and look much better than the ugly orange fencing I've seen at other fields.

CrashPro

My Feedback: (1)

Our field is out in the middle of the desert...no access to water....so we can't grow them purty bushes. We have to settle for that 'ugly orange fencing'. Oh well,...works for us.

rjm1982

I wish we had a fence. We fly on a taxiway at a real airpot.

There are taxi lights all down the sides...if your looking at the plane you wont even see them, then WHACK...plane 0, taxi light 1. They stick up just high enough to clip the bottom of a stock nexstar wing...so any low wing plane is done...

The thing is, its a taxi way, so there is about 20-30 feet to land on, and yet people hit these things more than you would think...Ive seen it a few times myself...

Its easy to say "Learn to control the plane" ... but you know...sometimes, everyone (yeah, even you!) gets a little wide with a landing...it shouldnt automatically cost you a plane.

outacntrl

well safety fence 1 funtana zero (it was the first plane i ever seen hit a fence,and i thank you 4 that).. it hit on a knife edge about a foot down from the top rail (it's a chain link) it was ugly and loud [X(] wing bad fuse ok...dude what were u thinking... i guess the fence is a good/bad thing..no names mentioned to protect the guilty one... now stop w/ that...[>:]