ORIGINAL: Villa
After 39 years in this wonderful hobby, I can tell you that I have seen a lot of spilled blood at the field; much of it has been mine. In retrospect, it is hard to believe the stupid things I have done, like sticking my finger into the spinning prop many times. When I first heard about the stands I saw them immediately as a safety item. By always following a safe procedure in starting the engine, I reduce the chance of something going wrong. When I forget, the chance is that I may do it correct anyway. When I saw a weakness in the stands we had built, I redesigned it, named it "Engine Starting Safety Stand", purchased pressure treated lumber, built a new stand, and donated it to our club. Others have donated 5 more stands. Soon we will solicit to replace two or three of our older designed stands that were built with plain lumber rather than pressure treated lumber. I think about and enjoy our "Engine Starting Safety Stands" every time I use them. If others gripe about always talking about safety, let them gripe. Safety is just too important not to give it a lot of attention. I turned 75 today. By thinking safety in ALL things, I hope to be flying my models for many more years.
Villa, Happy Birthday. I'm a few years behind you and share your views on safety. Seen waytoo many people hurt by not paying attention.
When I did my redesign of the benches, I left out the "safety" part of the title. I don't think the bench automatically makes starting the engine safer. Some people still do some stupid stuff, like not holding on to the plane when starting the engine. Where did they learn that? Another thing is not holding up elevator when running up the engine wide open. Did they ever do that when on the ground? Also, not paying attention to what the prop is about to hit when they remove the plane from the bench. For me it is more about convenience. Our field gets very mushy after a rain, with lots of standing water, so starting on the ground is amessy task.
When people our age started flying, we usually started out with an .049 and control line plane that we built ourselves. If you got your finger in the prop, you still had your finger. Now I see people start out with a .40 or larger engine on an RC ARF for their first plane. With the bigger engine and plane, it is easier to get hurt or hurt others.
I think clubs could do more to promote safety in all areas of the hobby.