RE: Serious accident
This was indeed a tragedy, but I think we all need to sit back and take a good look before jumping into a lot of restrictions and failsafe requirements.
The first thing that must be ascertained is exactly what happened to make the pilot lose control. Was it interference?, did something break? Was a control reversed? There are many things that COULD have gone wrong. We need to figure out what DID.
At 80 mph it takes 2.5 seconds to cover 300 feet. That means that the pilot had maybe 4 seconds (considering that he was taking off and not at full speed) to notice that he HAD a problem, try to correct it, realize that he could not and then try to activate any fail-safe device or kill switch he might have had. Could any device have activated in enough time to diminish the damage caused?
We can restrict and require things until we're blue in the face, but enforcement of any regulation remains a problem in our hobby. The best thing each of us can do to prevent other tragedies like this from occuring is to keep our own side of the street clean. That means that we have to THOROUGHLY inspect our aircraft before use and NOT FLY if there is anything wrong. This goes for everything from park flyers to turbines. We also have to use appropriate safety devices where they are practical and needed. This means we have to keep ourselves up to date on technical developments in the hobby. If each of us takes a few steps like this, we can have a much safer hobby.
papermache