ORIGINAL: David Gladwin

Thanks Ant, you've got it. Starting take off rolls downwind is poor practice and no longer done at meetings in Australia. and sorry Sparky, think you're wrong, in ANY and ALL incidents we must try and follow the policy of the AAIB and try and found out why it happened and do our best to prevent a, possibly worse, recurrence, they and I, am not interested in blaming anyone.

Despite what FT says, perhaps a preflight inspection, or scruitineering, might not have found this problem, but perhaps it might, I think it impossible and most unwise to be so specific. At the JMA meetings in the UK, and Classic jets and others, scruitineering DOES take place and on one occasion, at Odiham a couple of years ago, I grounded a couple of models and put restrictions on another, which did not appear up to the job. No hassle from the owners, just the opposite when I explained the problems and how to correct them. Perhaps they, we, are wasting their time doing this but, again a walk round inspection of ANY aircraft before flight is good practice and just the norm in all branches of non model aviation, whether a simple sailplane or a 747. My models get the same treatment, a DI and a preflight "walk round".

Finally I emphasise we, you, have had yet another warning which in slightly similar circumstances COULD have been tragic, lets take it on board, evaluate, and see if we can further improve safety without the discussion degenerating into the gutter and becoming personal and so protect the future of our hobby.

Regards,

David Gladwin.