Dear Fellow RCU'ers:

The PIPE here...over the past few months, my club, the Wingbusters in Halifax, MA, seems to have felt the need to "really enforce" its field rules that are listed at http://www.wingbusters.org/WBSAFTY.html ...and because of things about the way I've found that I have to do things over nearly fifty years of life so far, because I've always had problems with doing things that regard visual preception-versus how things I'm controlling around me behave as I operate them, I'm totally unable to touch-type or play a music keyboard (piano, organ, etc) WITHOUT looking DIRECTLY at it as I type or play music, "relatively" unable to ride a conventional bicycle (because my muscles cannot react fast enough to keep me from toppling over), and I'm also one of those type of people who NEVER feel safe about taking-off their RC aircraft, unless they stand DIRECTLY behind it, and take off directly away from themselves.

The "obstructing rule" in my club's safety rule listing, versus my own known limitations, is as follows...

"Take off and landings must be done while standing at the pilot stations."

But WHAT to do, about a possibly "exclusionary rule" like this, if the TAKEOFF part just CANNOT be done this way, by someone with the sort of situation my body has to operate in???

I've tried to come up WITH a "comnon-sense" set of rules to operate under for myself, that SHOULD allow me...if, as at a previous club meeting, the officers suggested that I might want to stick to flying either early in the morning on weekend days (starting my flying AT 7:30, the morning fueled engine flight limit)...which IS a time I prefer...or later on weekday afternoons, like after work lets out for the day, which can also be a nice time for flying.

Here's the set of rules I came up with for myself, to TRY to accomodate other modeler's needs as well...

1). When I'm setting the plane [with engine idling] down on the ground on the taxiing apron (BEYOND the pit area), I look around to check for anyone who needs to take off or land...or IS landing.

2). Taxiing out TO the area where the taxiway and runway join is OK...as long as I do it near the mowed EDGE of the taxiway...while continuing to watch, from time to time, for "taking-off" or landing models.

3). When...and ONLY when...all the planes that are flying are clearly NOT going to be landing "anytime soon", taxi the plane near the edge of the runway, and get the plane into its final position for takeoff, while walking along the edge, all the while keeping "one's head on a swivel" to know WHAT's going on, around oneself.

4). While the plane sits idling in the position it will be taking off from, continue walking out along the edges of the runway, until you're behind the plane, and if needed do a quick full-throttle burst of power while holding onto the tail to "clear" the engine.

5). FINALLY...with everything lined up for takeoff, and the air ahead clear of other aircraft, get that throttle up and allow the plane to head directly AWAY from you, so a close eye can be kept on any unforeseen changes in the takeoff path, like ones needing right rudder for correction (typical of taildraggers-all I've ever flown before) and get the aircraft climbing SMOOTHLY and safely...and after getting the plane up and in normal flight, carefully walk back to the "common area" where it's expected for the pilots to be while flying their planes, whether it's a pilot station, or something else...and ENJOY the flight!

Please remember, I'm ONLY having to TAKE OFF at a location that's most likely going to be at the end of the runway...as long as I can stand DIRECTLY behind the model on take off...and then after my plane has safely climbed out and I've been able to start the first turn, for example in a typical "racetrack" flight pattern, I can THEN head for a pilot's station, and then enjoy a safe flight from that time on, IN the pilot's station, AFTER I've been where I KNOW I need to be for a safe takeoff...based on how I know my body "can and can't do" certain common things.

These sorts of "general limitations" I've got, on not being able to do touch-typing, riding a bike safely, OR being able to use a pilot's station for the ENTIRE flight (including takeoff) is, as I've learned over many decades, simply NOT the sort of thing one can "learn" their way out of...it COULD very likely be the way "the Creator has wired one's body to operate", and then it's most likely something that can NEVER really be "overcome" by any amount of training to try to make the body do something it was never intended to do in the first place...

...but, IF I follow those "self-imposed" rules I've mentioned here, and try to stick to those days of the week and their flying times that the club officers suggested, when I might find opposition to what I need to do to be minimal at best, should I be all right for the most part???

Heck, I'd even be willing to wear a hard hat (like an RC Pylon racing judge at the first pylon HAS to wear by AMA regulations) for my needed takeoff position to keep myself safer...the WW I & Golden Age birds that I'm designing up on my CAD drawing screen at home would GREATLY benefit from a "tail-view" takeoff position to catch developing ground loops in the making...but what would other RCers here have to say about the limitations I've got, about HAVING to take off directly away from myself-AND what I'm trying to do to accomodate other's flyer's needs???

Hoping to hear some constructive help on this one...and ideas to improve those self-imposed rules I'm willing to operate under, to be fairer to others while I'm flying...!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE.....!