KiwiKid

Absolutely Graze, a flyer at a local club nearly died recently after being hit by a trainer. I thought it would be worth repeating an article in the club newsletter here to show what we can be dealing with.
"It happened at the Mercer field on a splendid Sunday a few weeks ago. A novice flier flew his landing plane into Brian's right upper arm and knocked him over. The wing also caught him in the lower back on that side.
Apparently the two observers weren't doing a good job and Brian shouldn't have been where he was flying his plane. There were medics present as there were parachute jumps going on, so help was quickly on hand.
An ambulance took him first to the local A & E and after X-ray of the arm (fracture) and a plaster there was a long wait for another ambulance. The accident happened around 11am and he finally made it to the City Hosp. around 3pm. While they were attending to his arm he was complaining about the pain in his ribs but the doctors wanted to get the arm wound washed out first.
When he turned a whitish shade of pale and starting to talk rubbish, his wife suggested they check his blood pressure, NOW!! Well, when they couldn’t actually find a blood pressure, things certainly started to happen then and they were a great team. 12 units of blood and various clotting agents later they had him stabilized enough to do a scan and found rather a large bleed in his chest.
Eventually he was sent to Critical Care and three days later he was transferred to an orthopaedic ward. He had two more trips to theatre to wash the wound under general anaesthetic and was released after a two week stay"
Once home he was still a sick puppy for two weeks, so was out of action for four weeks.
All due to a moments forgetfulness in not leaving the strip after takeoff and a bit of a slip up on the part of the other pilot and the observers. Lets be careful out there.

GeneG

My Feedback: (11)

I had no intention of replying in this thread but your post just struck a nerve. As much as it pains you to believe, most of the observations made here by other members are accurate. Aside from the childish name calling, most people posting here are correct about what they are saying.

You're right, nobody here knows you or the pilot but they are not talking about YOU or HIM, they are talking about your behavior on the field. The video clearly shows that.

Your defense to your actions is to explain to us how the pilot has 20 years experience and is a great pilot. How he is an excellent builder and great club member. I'm sure you are right he is all those things. However, they is absolutly no excure for your actions regardless of who you are. It's AMAZING to me that you are telling fellow modelers that they have no right speaking out about the stupidity on display in that video because the pilot has 20 years experience. He may be a great pilot but I wouldn't ask either one of you to speak on safety.

It is exactly that 20 years of experience that convinced you and him that there was no danger in standing on the runway. Hell, the pilot has 20 years experience what could go wrong! The rules are in place to prevent ACCIDENTS! As I'm sure you now know. Of course he wasn't trying to land into the both of you however the situation got out of control and there was an accident. That is exactly why there are pilot stations. We need to control the environment as much as we can and be as safe as possible.

I am glad you are both OK. However, answer one quesiton. Why were you both ON the runway. I for one cannot come up with ONE reason that you should have been.

Wings of Peril

OK, now this thread has ceased to be entertaining. All I see now is a bunch of guys who weren’t at the crash site making judgments and laying down a lot of rules. Now you’re patting each other on the back for being masters of the obvious. OK, we shouldn’t stand on runway, ever! I get it now. Why don’t we make a whole list of no-brainers starting with this tidbit, Now, lets add rangerstl’s bullet points and end with perhaps “never stick your finger into the path of a rotating propeller�? Now, just to make the list worthwhile, let’s add a post-script, “Do everything possible to avoid injury to yourself and others�. Then, I could feature that.

This crash has a (somewhat) clear series of events and most of the “what-ifs� you geniuses are coming up with have more to do with the avoidance of these than the actual crash. Most RC’ers routinely make corrections in reaction to situations and save the model. If we crashed every time we had a problem, I don’t think this hobby would exist. Hell, I reckon my predicament to crash ratio is about 100:1. One of these events, such as the engine flame-out could be the root cause, but not necessarily the real or final cause. Yes, the avoidance of any of these events could have saved the model and diminished the threat to life and limb but in this case, the model was almost on the ground safely and from the clip, it’s not 100% clear that the model could not have stayed on course and landed safely while missing the humans. I'll concede that the plane could have been on a direct course to hit these guys because it appears that there was a ditching or a go-around attempt that went wrong and made matters worse-and that could be the real, final cause of the crash. With that being said, I do agree that no matter where these guys were stationed, or what thier reasons are for standing there, they attempted to land too close to themselves to allow for further errors in judgment or equipment malfunctions-for whatever reason.

AT the risk of stating the obvious, you guys who like to play NTSB investigator should remember the real differences between model flying and the transport of humans. With full-scale, every attempt is made and every expense is paid to avoid predicaments. Not so with models. We don’t have control towers or teams of maintenance professionals with reliability analysis programs. We just try to do our best and have fun. We’re encouraged to develop our skills to the point where we’re thinking ahead and our actions are predictive but we should not become robots and diminish our reactive abilities. We’ll need them. Whatever your skill level is, you are not immune to a case of dumb thumbs or a sense of panic. No matter how deep your pockets are, you’re not immune to equipment failure. Every time we maiden a new model, get distracted, fly with other models in the air, or try a new maneuver, we put the aircraft at risk. Let’s just be sure we do everything possible to avoid injury to yourself and others.

Brineymolly

Arrow IV

Hey Wings,

"WHAT IF" you just stayed off the end of the runway?????????



PS My NTSB clearance # is: 29778462579921349738941276949852865485724887121458 728884527585

CorsairJock

My Feedback: (90)

I didn't realize the main purpose of this thread was "to be entertaining", altho it is obvious that some thought it to be that way.
I think the purpose of threads like these should be educational. Learn from your mistakes, AND learn from the mistakes of others. Threads like these should ultimately result in preventing others from making the same mistakes.
And what is obvious to some, is not so obvious to others, which is why some of us feel the need to explain it to others.
Just my 'expert' opinion (been accused of refeing to myself as an expert so many times, figured I might as well actually do it).

Bruno Stachel

My Feedback: (4)

I'll just say this. Ramms1 and his friend should not have been standing where they were. The video is an illustration of what not to do. But I and everyone else here is not without sin. Sorry to see you burn like this Ramms1.

And I wonder who shot and put the video on the web? A friend of Ramms1? I don't think I'd like to be embarrassed like that without being asked permission. I suppose no permission is legally needed. Makes me think twice about flying when someone is running a camera. I consider myself a safe pilot. But what if I you-know-what the pooch while someone's shooting! I guess it's part of the times to get used to.

Wings of Peril

Hey Arrow,
"What if" I don’t play kamikaze and use myself for a target!
There are plenty of electric powered planes and helicopters for that purpose!

ramcfarland

My Feedback: (44)

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Liberator

Brineymolly,

Nice job

Tom

ArmedZagi

My Feedback: (1)

I love how the guy in the white shirt pulled the pilot INTO the path of the plane....

ArCeeFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

Arrow IV: Hey Wings,
"WHAT IF" you just stayed off the end of the runway?????????

Wings of Peril: Hey Arrow,
"What if" I don’t play kamikaze and use myself for a target!

Isn't that what Arrow meant?

Flak

My Feedback: (1)

I guess the feller in the blue shirt didn't want to go swimmin....mayber the pool was too crowded...LMAO!!!

OK guys, we have all seen the video and we all know what happened. I don't see the point in going to a war of words or fists over it.
Let's get back to our modeling and have a good, but safe time. I have a Ziroli B-25J Mitchell in the finishing stages at this time. I am anxious to get her in the air! This weekend should be the maiden of my T/F C-47. Yes, I'll have a video. I'll try to smile for the camera.

Scrape

I think the camera man did a great job of catching that. Stayed with it all the way. Could make the funniest video list. lol.

ramcfarland

My Feedback: (44)

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Arrow IV

Brin,
Dude that is fricken funny!!! and look the kids in the pool were smart enough to stay off the end of the runway!!!

foodstick

Briney...I got no idea what you was thinking when you made that.....but I like the way you think!

HoggZilla

Ditto. I like your way of thinkin'

LonestarMan

SICK!!!!!!!!!!!


but I like it......[sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif][sm=lol.gif]......Rob

Rudy Giuliani

All I can say it WOW. What a video. This is the best crash video I have seen yet.

ramcfarland

My Feedback: (44)

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LuftwaffeOberst

Exactly, I've lost planes to ignoring the warning signs. I admit I did that once, good thing my plane hit the ground when no one else was around at my club at the time. It turns out my Male and Female plug had a short and the plane went completely dead. Atleast if the Gas/Glow engine quits I still have control with the Servo's.


So no, I don't agree that Electric planes are better from what one other person stated. Plus you can't beat the smells and sounds of a Glow/Gas Engine plane.


Peter Dowling aka Luftwaffe Oberst
AMA District II # 56404
Aero Modelers Club
Pulaski, NY

BobFE

Ramms1, I have an honest question for you. Ask your friend how well his B-25 will fly on one engine. I'm sure he's had it happen before so he should know the performance.

After reading your posts I think I understand what he was trying to do. If I'm right he was planning on turning inside of where you two were and landing past where you were standing. Unfortunately seems like he forgot that with only one engine running the plane won't turn as tight and before either of you realized it, the plane was on top of you.

In all honesty you have to admit what the two of you did was a pretty bone head play. Complacency can do that. We are all susceptible to it. I've been a P-3 Flight Engineer in the Navy for 11 years now and one thing I've learned is that the two most dangerous people is the person who just got qualified and the person who's been qualified forever.

Keep your chin up, share what you learned from this, and I hope to see the next plane.

foodstick

I'm just glad nobody has started a flame about how you shouldn't run near the pool OR dive into the shallow end! ha ha, couldn't resist!

Shoes

My Feedback: (72)

Ramms1---I find your attack on those that made somewhat negative comments on this incident as ,"A Typical,"-----First of all, the pilot responed correctly to the engine out situation. If you listen as well as watch the vid, you will see the plane make what looks like an unplanned movement to the right. The pilot because of his past experience at that moment realized he had an engine out and if you listen, you will hear the power go to idle on the good engine-----thereby negating any adverse yaw induced by the running engine. If he had not done this, most likely, the aircraft would have yawed hard right and rolled into the ground. The pilot,yes sir, he was cool----set the aircraft up for an engine out approach. He lowered the nose, initiated his turn from base to final and dropped the gear. Yes, sir ---here is a fellow I wouldn't mind sitting in the right seat next to me. Now, here is where you Mr. Ramms1 come into play. I see that you in your desire to save your pilot, you try to pull on him as he reacts by pulling away from you. If you listen to the vid, you will hear the running engine is at idle but at that point in time when you decided to pull on the pilot and the pilot trys to pull away----you will hear the running engine increase in RPM---------------whiched caused adverse yaw and rolled the aircraft hard to the left as you look at it from the nose. It is my opinion the pilot had the runway made until your actions upset his ability to control the plane effectivlly. You sir, I would not allow in the right seat!