AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Dear AMA and members of the RC modeling community,

In my 24+ years flying I have seen many new types of flying and interesting events, shows and have met thousands of great people. I have seen many levels of maturity and responsibility too. I've seen people act violent towards other members and I have seen young men act as responsible adults and have shown a mannerism that has impressed the heck out of me.

But up until now I thought I had seen it all. I've heard of something that has not only been deemed and act of immaturity but also the highest level of irresponsibility I have ever seen. There has been some word of mouth about this around our club which is located not too far from where this incident happened, so I decided to do some investigation for myself and this is what I found.

Apparently at a Fun Fly event in Memphis, Tennessee a few young men and from the photos appears to be a few adults decided to take an RC airplane, cover it with rags and lighter fluid then light it on fire and then fly it. Now this did not happen in a large open field in the middle of nowhere by just one person, this happened during what I would assume is an AMA Sanctioned event that was advertised at our club and I'm sure many others around the country.

These men took this plane lit it on fire then flew it. Apparently it flew for a few minutes while on fire, and then suddenly lost control and came flying down into the designated pilot’s area and nearly hit someone by only a few inches as the photo shows. As you can see after these rowdy young men had their fun and almost either badly injured someone or perhaps killed someone. After the fireball crash they decided to take out their cameras and another airplane and celebrate the victory while hovering fuel powered airplane over the fire. This entire event happened with many on lookers which were apparently cheering and egging the pilot on and taking photos. It appears to look like a small version of a college riot that you see on the news after a football championship victory.

These men have actually decided to post pictures on another website from where these photos were acquired. They talked about the fun it was to actually burn the plane and in one case the member actually boasted about how close the plane hit him. Apparently at their level of intelligence while flying this plane did not carry over to the Internet. They decided not to keep this event a secret and post pictures about the incident.

Now the bad part. I did mention that I have seen lots of good and bad things in my 24 years in flying RC airplanes. But the worst things that I have had to seen and heard of are the deaths and severe accidents that we have dealt with since the birth of the radio control and the AMA. In most cases the severe injuries and deaths have been a result of accidents, not negligence. However in this case these men were actually looking for an accident in their wrecklessness and no nonsense acts of immaturity.

This event happened in Memphis Tennessee at a private club called the Memphis Prop Busters on the weekend of April 29th 2005. It was sponsored by a group of men called the Profile Brotherhood. I assume the AMA has records for this club and the event if it was sanctioned which I assume it must have been as the Prop Busters are a sanctioned club and have been around for a long time and I would hope would be smart enough to add extra insurance when dealing with group of people. However if any of their members were present, they are just as involved if not more.

This was taken from the Memphis Prop Busters website bylaws on safety:

ARTICLE XII: SAFETY

A. All members and their guests must have a current AMA license to fly at the Club's field.

B. The Club shall, from time to time, adopt rules and guidelines, which will lead to the safe operation of our equipment and facilities. These Field Safety Rules shall be posted at the Club's flying site and also shall be given to each member upon joining the Club.

C. All members and their guest must strictly adhere to the AMA Safety Code and all field rules established by the Club.

A copy of the club’s safety rules can be seen here:
http://www.memphispropbusters.com/clubinfo/rules.html

I now call upon the AMA to investigate this matter. This If the AMA decides not to follow up or investigate this matter it will only show that they are not for the greater good and safety of their members. The AMA takes our insurance dollars and must act responsibly with it’s clubs and members. It is not right for paying members to endure the risk of morons like this and the cost & liability that could be associated to it should personal injury result from such recklessness. Our rates continue to grow each year due to accidents alone, but should never arise due to negligence which can be avoided by using one’s brain.

I have all the faith in the world that one AMA employee will be viewing this message and passing it on to their superiors and hopefully will be responding in this forum in some manner to know that the AMA cares about our safety and livelihood and the greater good of our hobby.

I also hope that this message reaches out as a positive manner to the modeling community and to set as example on what not to do at a “fun fly” event. This is something that should be done on your own time without innocent bystanders around and on your own property, not an AMA sanctioned field.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Wow-unbeliveable, why are you posting it here, If you truly wanted to contact the AMA-why not send this to them in Muncie or your district VP instead of a public forum? Or is there another reason other than what you stated in your post?

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

At least I let people no where I am at and what to look out for:eek:

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Wow. Stupidity in its purest form.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

I think it's cool. Well done, boys, looks like a good time!

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Just what I was looking for...Our fun flys were getting a little stale! Yes!! a new event...How long can you hover while on fire!

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Wow! How dramatic, think of all the death and destruction it may have caused. How many could have been killed and injured?

Oh, the poor children.

Was this really a sanctioned event? Or just a frat party at the local field after the softball game? Your facts are blended with assumptions.

What can the AMA really do about it? So far, I never have heard them revolking a membership or a club charter. However, your response could enlighten them into enforcing some sort of disciplinary action towards clubs that fail to enforce safety. In other words, like any insurance company, they would cancel the policy. Makes them kinda do pro-risk management.

Then again, if someone was injured, then an investigation would be conducted, and if any part of the safety code was infracted upon, then the AMA would not pay. The most those guys would get would be their story published in next years Darwin Award News Letter.

Scott

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

As the AMA District Vice President for District 5, I am shocked by what I see! I have contacted AMA HQ and we will be investigating this incident. If anyone has names, AMA numbers or other info of those involved, I would like to have it. Please E-mail me at [email protected]

This type of behavior may seem fun at the surface, but could turn deadly, and cost a club a flying site.

Tony

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

I am the AMA District VIII avp for my area...The setting of a model plane on fire, then flying it, is incredulous, sheer insanity......Where was the sanctioned event CD ?? If this happened in my district...heads would roll...Leadership looks to be severly lacking at that particular event...I would suggest a full investigation into this incident and stringent and strong measures metted out to the invidual(s) responsible.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Someone's been having FUN, therefore...someone must be PUNISHED!

Give it a rest, huh?

I saw the Top Gun event flown over dozens of houses for a dozen years, 55 pound planes slamming into houses...into the pits...into a Cell-phone tower...whatever. Nobody said diddly because it was "the right crowd." Some yahoos go out and have a midnight barbecue of a profile plane(excellent choice of plane to burn, one less profile plane!) and all of the sudden you have your panties in a knot?

Gimme a break. This is just a classic Redneck good time, involving flames, moving objects, drinking(I would ASSume) and all the rest of the good stuff. My favorite photo is the one with the guy who HAD to stick his foot in the pyre, and you can see his sneaker on fire. That's such classic redneck behavior, it was totally predictable.
I love the shot of the plane hovering over the fire. I hate profiles, I hate hovering, but that, right there, is the perfect place for hovering. I can just hear all the guys chanting "oogachaka, oogachaka, oogachaka..." as they initiate a newbie into the Order Of The Profile Brotherhood or something.
Score one for these guys, just some guys having a good time, Southern-style. Get over it.

No, actually, DON'T get over it. Spend about six weeks chasing your tails trying to persecute these guys like some old blind ex-guard-dog. Spend a lot of time on it. Watch them laugh. It's a free country, the AMA is not the LAW, this certainly falls outside the auspices of AMA coverage, I THINK the participants were pretty well aware of that when they went into the trailer to get the matches and oily rags...

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

"Profile Brotherhood" is a banned word here? What's up with that?

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

I'm talking about the Brophile Protherhood, not some cuss word.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Looks like Darwinisim in action to me.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

I remember my first beer...tsk, tsk. Shows what happens when you get a bunch of us drunk rednecks together and give 'em a book of matches. Maybe this is an act of revolt against the AMA for the "tail touch" rule that was proposed...:D
Tommy

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Well it's allright to say it was just good ole boy fun now, becasue it's after the fact and we know that nothing bad happened. So what would be said if the fire burned the throttle servo and stuck on full throttle, and the plane slammed into a car?...while on fire...or smashed into a fuel bottle...or some drunk yahoo, to use you're word there easy.

I am not against anyone having a good time, but this goes just a touch beyond the pale.

IF something bad had happened how fast would that have made the news?

I did like the oogachaka thought though, too funny.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

I can just see Gomer ( or was it Goober?? ) running into the town square after Barney makes a U-turn.
Citizens arr-aist! Citizens arr-aist! Please, people, get a life and worry about something that matters, rather than as ET says, a few guys having fun at a bonfire. Gawd, what is next. No wonder people are leaving or not joining the AMA.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Looks fun to me, I can almost hear Grand Funk Railroad now. Hmm, I need to get one of those profiles and some lighter fluid, and a 12 pack. It might be a good holiday weekend. LOL

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Sometimes, a minor element of danger kind of adds to the fun, huh?
YES, it is POSSIBLE that it might have gone out of control and hit a schoolbus full of nuns. And those nuns might have been wearing just applied and quite flammable hairspray, and it would have set off a chain reaction of burning nuns and the flames jumped from nun to nun...but it appears to be the middle of the night, and there are no nuns around. None nuns at all.

I have seen MUCH worse, MUCH more dangerous, and everybody said "cool!" because it was the right crowd. Like I said, Top Gun flew the entire flight pattern over houses for many years until they moved to lakeland. Nobody said "BOO" until one owner of a house got tired of his house getting hit and put up barrage balloons.
I'd say 55 pound jets taking off and flying over houses was CONSIDERABLY more dangerous than this, and houses were actually hit. And nobody said boo.
And these guys, because they are just some hyuks having a good time, THEY need to be "punished?"
To me, it's just Southern-style fun, and I hope you do spend many, many hours trying to make these guys "pay" for it. Hey, was this on the Sabbath, too? They ought to pay double!

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Heh! I'm 98% sure "Freebird" was playing at the time, and everybody removed their trucker's caps and held them over their hearts, and had a tear in their eye...

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

ET
I was with you there till you mentioned the nuns, there ain't no nuns in Memphis, but it could have hit a bus load of little ole ladies on the way to the casino for goodness sake, where is the humanity????????;)
Tommy

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Or a busload of HOOTERS GIRLS! On their way to church, of course!
Me, I may live in Midtown Manhattan, but I DO appreciate the fun of a bonfire, and I know a thing or two about burning models. The lake out back of my father's house, well, if they dredged it, they would find a few hundred melted and burnt models back there, it would look like the bottom of the lagoon at Bikini Atoll does today. What were the Bikini A-bomb tests anyway, except for this probro bonfire on a much larger, government-sponsored scale?
Hmm, lessee, what happens when we hit a surrendered Japanese battleship with an A-bomb? Hmmm...it SINKS! Hey, let's see if the same thing happens with this surrendered German cruiser? Hey, same thing! It sinks! How about this old aircraft carrier...hey, I know, let's put a crate of chickens aboard and see what happens to THEM! Go ahead....light the thing....POW! Cool...say, those chickens don't look too good...
Same thing. Not like we learned a lot.

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

This is the place where it should be posted. The 99% that have some common sense should have the opportunity to recognize the 1% consisting of idiots and scum-bags that have no respect for the welfare of others.

Thank YOU SIR. Tony, this makes my day. Here is some light at the end of the tunnel; a DVP with the intestinal fortitude to make a statement to the public rejecting the behavior of those that so well deserve rejection. These persons along with those that will waltz a model doing hovers, whatever , down through a pit area, should all be banished from AMA membership for a minimum of five (5) years.
If AMA continues to allow these "fun-loving kids" to get by without punishment for their actions, then why should anyone pay any attention to the Safety Code? Why should anyone even have any concern for AMA? If AMA continues to protect these people, then guess who will pay the bills. Just like auto insurance -- we SAFE drivers pay the bills for all the "alkys" that crash every day. Is that what YOU want here?

Burning wings are at the time pyrotechnic devices. Burning wings will detach from the airplane when load-bearing members burn through, so the devices are NOT securely attached.

Worse than those that did the deed are some here that discuss these topics on a regular basis and think such behavior is all OK. YUCK![:'(]

RE: AMA members set plane on fire risking injury
 

Don't confuse the fact that Ifind this a little humorous with condoning this behavior. I do shudder to think what would have happened had that been some type of a jet aircraft however, probably would have been a spot about it on "60 Minutes". My guess however, is that upon further investigation, you are going to find that it took place outside the confines of the AMA sanctioned event, which probably ended at sundown. Makes you wonder how many other crazy things go on out there in the "real world".

BTW ET, I burned up several models when I was kid too. The last one I did accidently set my dad's truck on fire. He tanned my butt good, and needless to say I never burned a little green army man again.
Tommy