Hi guys and gals, We had an incident at the field this weekend! One of our very experienced pilots made "in my judgment" several minor errors that in slightly different circumstances might have cost him his arm! OR WORSE!

He was starting a large gas powered war bird, he had a rope around the tail to one of the pit benches. Error #1 was not taking the slack out of the rope. Error number #2 he was on his knees directly in front of the propeller. Error number #3 His throttle was set to high.

When the engine fired the plane headed right at him! In his attempt to regain his feet and avoid the propeller at high RPM! His arm was struck by the 22" propeller, braking both blades!

He sustained a large deep gash to the forearm! Luckily no broken bones, severed artery's, or nerve damage.

This could have much worse! He was waring a heavy coat and It was a wood prop!

Please keep this in mind! If you let you guard down for a second these "TOY" aircraft can bite you!

Regards
Mark

I am not an unexperenced pilot and we have all done things with this hobby that we have soon regreted. Sometimes it takes somthing bad like that to happen to us or to one of our flying buddies, to let us realize that it is important to pay attention to what were doing. And how important it is to make the the rope is TIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya know, maybe i am fortunate enough to have a top of the line airfield provided by the City of Albuquerque. Also every owner of a 3w-whatever or Brisson has someone hold the plane prior to starting. Now maybe that is the only way things are done up their but that is the stupidest manuever I have ever heard of. Definately a candidate for the Darwin award.

LMFAO....get a tail stand to hold it down...spend the extra 25 bucks man...but sometimes you just don't think do ya....take me for example...take plane out...have 9 yr old daughter helping me out...get plane started...daughter gets over eager, guns the engine...Jacket gets sucked into the wash from prop...get a little bit of coat eaten by the prop...daughter gets scolded and sent to the truck...glad i got my fingers though...glad she learned a valuable lesson on not listening and all it cost me was a ripped old jacket!!!

I think for the Darwin award you have to die, or injure yourself in a manner that prohibits you from reproducing.

All mistakes seem simple in hindsight... sometimes experience lets you get over confident and let your guard down. Good post, nothing like a visualization of such a story to sober up a bit.

I witnessed nearly the same thing when I started flying 10 years ago. It was a big gasser and the guy was using lead blocks and a rope over the vertical stab to hold the plane back. He accidentally started the engine with the throttle wide open. It went forward and put 3 large slices into his leg. Almost a Darwin Awards nominee.

Now it is almost understandable if you were by yourself but when people are around, this should not happen. is their not some AMA rule about it?

Our club has plane hold downs. We had them made pretty cheap. I think maybe all clubs should provide them, after all shouldn't the dues be used to benefit its club members. Perhaps accidents like this one could be prevented.

Hi all, Merry Christmas!

Using a rope around the tail is perfectly acceptable! As long as you pull out the slack before starting!

Please lets not start bashing anyone! I posted this to keep everyone on there toes! Please check everything a second - third time before committing aviation!

Be safe!

Regards
Mark

I built one of the stands featured in the AMA magazine articles. Its real big and heavy and I feel much safer when I fire up my big planes. There is no way any plane is going to move on this stand.

Man starts motor on plane . Has multiple planes and radios on same FREC. Has wrong radio for plane , swithes radios second radio set on full throttle ,Lucky it hit a table rather than another flier scared the H!!!!! out of these two old men. Accidents can happen !!!!!

whenever I start my planes I have something preventing it from going forward. either its tied down (via a tiedown strap and tent spike) or my field box in front of it so it will strike that first. I will admit that those spinny things on the front of these "toys" dont scare me at all, but I have ALL the respect in the world for them and what they can do.

before every start i do I do a quick mental checklist and look around the prop arc to make sure its clear. it only takes a second but im sure its saved me in the past (like noticing your TX strap is hanging about 3" from the prop off your neck )

please everyone, keep safe.

I've been flying jets for 27 years and its absolutely unthinkable to me to even turn the battery switch on without my checklist or a standardized procedure.

For 2 years, I've been "into" the RC model scene and I have the hardest time establishing any flightline discipline at all! It's as though I left my common sense in the truck some days. We need to have fun, but take this safety stuff seriously too. ...I am going to reset my priorities out there on the model flightline this season. Thanks for the reminder, Mark!

10 fingers, and two eyes today... I'm going to keep it that way!

Fred (Former wing safety weenie, McGuire AFB)

Maybe it's just me but I find a spinning prop almost hypnotic in its effect, just seems to draw you into it. Particularly the large ones. On my test I have been running a Saito 450 radial that is very powerful and I constantly am telling myself:
Don't put hand in prop-
Don't put hand in prop-
..haven't yet thank heavens.
Bill

The slickest thing I've seen so far is a rope under the fuselage in front of the wing over the top of the wing ...back over the top of elevator to a stake...
I kept watching my flying buddy for a while and just had to ask why the did it this way....

First time a plane got away from him he was using a extention cord pluged male to female and it came unpluged...

Second time, he was using a rope over the top of the fuselage in front of the elevator under the elevator looped over the stake...
It was a foam and sheeted fuse and tail group, let go where joined to the fuse....

Third time he had someone start the plane while he held the rudder....motor started, goosed engine, rudder came off in his hand, plane starts rolling towards safety fence...

I think I learned something from him.....
I've had my share of super glued cuts...broken fingernails...and almosties....and still see a few of my friends do things that I'd never even attempt....Setting in lawn chair while being in front of plane and starting it...adjusting needle valves from the front of plane with motor running...Starting a plane with a 3W100 not tied down...and could go on...

A set of heavy leather welding gloves cost about $9.00....
Another person to help costs nothing....
And the plane tied down this way, if it breaks the wing loose, I shouldn't be flying it anyway...

Just 2 cents worth....

I've been watching this thread with much interest. Is there any of us who haven't done something in this hobby that we really shouldn't have? This might be a worthy forum to start: "Flying Safety" or something like that.
They say that "good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from someone elses' bad judgement."
Over the years, I've learned lots of things that have saved either myself or my plane from certain catastrophy because I read about someone else having done it before I did. And I thank those persons for letting me know. This thread will surely save someone else from doing the same thing-and that's a good thing-right??
Randy

I'd say that experience comes from your own bad judgement. Learning from other's bad judgement is just theoretical knowledge. You can't become experienced by reading about what everyone else has or hasn't done; you can only become informed.

I just bought a bunch of stuff from another modeler and one of the things I got was a plane holder made of PVC pipe..... He made a stake for it by taking a wooden block and drilling a hole through it.....put a long nail through the hole and epoxied it in place..... He could have made the U where the tail fits a bit wider....but the idea is sound..... I don't think I would trust it for anything above a .60 powered plane however....

You could make one out of iron pipe that would hold even a giant scale plane....

Just my $.02375 worth......

Mark,

You have made really good valid comments and I will make sure I'm more careful when starting up my warbird. However, there is one more action point that should be shared; if I am standing around watching someone in the same situation as this poor guy, then I will look for a slack tie-down or anything else which could cause an accident. I don't want to be seen to be judging others after the event when my own actions could have prevented it from happening in the first place.

My 2 cents
Steven

Hi all! I want to thank everyone for there helpful additions to this thread! Also I want to wish everyone a safe and happy new year!

Regards
Mark

TTT

For what it's worth... I used two 14" long shelf brackets, screwed to a 3/4" piece of plywood, about 6" apart. In the plywood is a hole to put a 12" spike into the ground or in a hole on the flight table. Wont come loose.

A cheap easy tail holder can be made from two 36" concrete stakes covered with foam. You can install them in a minute or two and they will stay until you remove them. You can drive them through anything except rocks and concrete. Get the ones with the nail holes so you can pull the stakes when you're ready. Orange safety caps are a must for the tops.

How i tie down my plane:
(Only works with nosewheel planes)
Take 2 tent pegs
attach loops of string, wire, whatever to top of tent pegs
place loops over mainwheels with pegs in ground behind them
trim down elevator puts load on nosewheel and stops nose lifting, freeing itself from the tiedowns. Works for me anyway.

Always keep your eyes on the airplane when flying! That must be scary!