ORIGINAL: Scar
There's nothing I like about those benches. If you try to sit on the sides, they tip over. There's no good place to put anything, and some planes don't fit well. Large planes don't fit at all. People run their engines on them for breakin and leave oil all over them. I prefer to work on the ground.
Having said that... the benches had nothing to do with the incidents described.
Dave Olson
No place to put stuff? I've found them to be just the opposite. We added the side boards to hang radios, and they also aid in positioning the starter box on top of the hanging field box (see photo). True, you can't sit on them while there's a plane in position, but then they aren't made to be seats! You can easily sit on an empty bench, though.
Large planes don't fit at all? If you have giant scale planes, then build the version for those planes. Even the smaller planes fit fine on the giant scale bench, you just have to bend over about 7" more to start the plane. I've used both standard and giant scale version of the safety benches, and they work great.