I know of guys flying foamies with the tx behind there back showing off and going into failsafe mode.

I also believe that range checking the plane to see failsafe is an improper test. I like a range test that shows when you start to drop frames. Your plane will go out of synch with the tx long before it actually hits a enough lose for a failsafe/hold condition.

If you moved one surface up and down and look for the surface to hesitate, I think you would find the range is shorter with people in front of the transmitter.