Originally Posted by
stevekott
A month ago we did the Monster Jet Jam in Coachella, CA.
Guess What, the event had been scheduled for some time and Pres Obama needed to play golf in Palm Springs which put the flying site within a TFR (temporary flight restriction) in effect during the event.
Both the FAA and the Secret Service came out to the event, surveyed the setup and pilots and gave us a waiver to fly in the TFR until 3:00pm. Obama landed in Air Force One clearly visible from the flight line at around 11:00am.
Don't give the FAA a bad rap. A lot of them are full scale and RC pilots and a lot of them like Turbine Jets. Who doesn't!
Like everyone else on here I've been in this hobby a long time, since 1976. I personally have not seen anyone or heard of anyone I know ever getting hurt from a turbine incident. Certainly I've seen a lot of incidents.
Turbine pilots are safer than most. They are flying around "investments" ($5000-$20,000). I do not think that there is another group of RC pilots that is more conscientious about build quality and dependability. And I do not think there is another group of RC pilots that is more concerned about flying skills and safety.
You can't say the same for Carbon Fiber Bladed Helicopters and Carbon Fiber Props. I have personally seen serious injury from them.
So take all this phony "In the interest of Safety" soap-boxing to a different forum. You are just irritating a great "safe" bunch of guys.
Yes, you are correct about the quality of the planes and piloting in general. My club hosts 2 Jet rallies a year, and the planes are as high a quality as you will see anywhere. I do agree that the price tag has a tendency to inherently weed out the problem children.
I think that the focus of this thread may be off a little. In that I mean it is not a turbine issue, but maybe more of a large model airplane event issue. There seem to be more and more of these events every summer. I would not say that Mac Hodges is not a qualified pilot to fly in front of crowds, but I can promise you that they are many pilots that fly at some of these events that are not. My club hosted the Warbirds over the Rockies for 8 years. Yes, the vast majority were great pilots and models. But there was alway a few that did not belong on the flight line. Not sure there is much resolution for that, other than a keen eye by the CD or flight line officer.
And yes, all you have to do is youtube helicopter event. Those guys are haphazard at best. Tons of crashes and airframes blowing apart. They almost celebrate it.