These stories go around about once a year or so and point out the fact that this hobby is dangerous for those of us that are either prone to accidents or take those rotating swords for granted. Hey, we all do it, or have done it, or will do it, I guarantee that. I said that it would never happen to me.. woops.. five stiches later I have to eat those words.

So, the moral of this story is to be careful when moving around rotating props and keep in mind that these things are dangerous.

If you are teaching your kid(s) about RC flying, one main focus should be the safety aspect of the hobby.

Crashes are not the only downside to this hobby, although many can be or could have been avoided if the pilot took a few additional steps to check things out (servo reversal, sufficient battery, or flying with a plane that is beyond their abilities to control) and many others.

An important part of instruction to those new to the hobby is not only the fun we have when flying these planes, but also are the dangers involved with flying RC, and how these dangers can be avoided.

I've mentioned before about the chain of events leading up to an accident, and how breaking only one link in the chain will prevent or could have prevented that accident. That break in the chain is proper instruction by qualified instructors, or even by a little reminder while on the flight line when we see something that could lead to an accident.

This points out the importance of proper instruction, and how much is missing when one attempts to become self-taught. I know.. there are situations when there is no choice. And for that reason, we have these forums.

Pilots - keep it safe out there. We don't like reading posts where our friends have lost a finger or had dozens of stiches and are incapacitated for weeks at at time because of a lack of focus or a distraction causes these accidents.

Stay focused, and please, don't become a statistic.

CGr.