Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

There is news about a tragic accident at the Országos airport south of Budapest, Hungary where two spectators at an air-show where killed by an R/C-model aircraft that went out of control. My thoughts are with the families of those involved.

Here are two links, in [link=http://english.mti.hu/default.asp?menu=1&theme=2&cat=25&newsid=219892]English[/link] and in [link=http://www.mti.hu/cikk/137267/]Hungarian[/link]. The Hungarian text contains more information, can someone please translate?

I had some doubts about adding this but here is a link to a [link=http://stream.tv2video.hu/asxgen/tv2/video/tenyek/tenyek_0513_low.wmv]Hungarian newsshow[/link]. The accident report starts at 2min 30s.

With this in mind, fly safely!

/Red B.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

This is terrible. [:o] The young boy killed by a boat a few days ago and now this. I hope that is it.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Certainly not. Do hope but there is this known danger in this sport, at least for quite another while...

Clement

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

But to the majority....it's men playing with their 'Toys' [&o] and they sure won't let facts get in way of their thinking!

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Looks like he was flying over the crowd to me!!

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

This kind of crap can happen all to easily. Sure it could happen to any one of us but i would love to throw some of it at those who do not follow "first grade level basic flying rules" followed by those who won't say anything to them for afraid to hurt their feelings. We have a guy who is down right scary. He is a bit "slow" I guess. he is a nice guy but flys out of control and all over the place and stuffs his planes left and right and everybody thinks it's a big joke!

Then we have this other guy who started flying a couple years back. He is around 80 and again , a nice man but the common sense of a goat and no skill at all flying and stuffing one giant plane after another. I'm not talking about planting themin the north forty here. How about a nice dave Patrick in the pits or parking lot. Of course hitting the metal roof wakes us all up. Finally got a few fingers whacked off a couple months ago but that did nothing and he's still at it.

There comes a time where you need to quit. When I retired from military flying, have not missed it one bit. I can say "been their, done that." I am working on my own deal right now. I have a mild cataract in one eye. The other is 20/15. So it makes these speed planes of mine a bit fun keep up with. So my options are to bring them in closer, go completely giant scale or quit.

Can't place the blame totally on the person who caused the accident.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

[link=http://www.hirado.hu/cikk.php?id=116485]Video here.[/link] in case the above links don't have it. Radio failure?

How did the boy get killed by an R/C boat?

-Jeff

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

After he lost control - it wasn't intentional

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

From the video I could see the pilot was VERY competent....and the way the plane 'locked up' I bet IMHO he was using a PCM receiver

Time will tell....

PS could someone translate it :)

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

From looking at video he was not over crowd, he had full control untill he came off of the downline and it went into a left bank. I would have to say that you are correct, I bet it was a pcm receiver. Kinda looks like it might have went into failsafe or something, but definately no control at that point. Very sad for this to happen, my thoughts and prayers with the familys and the pilot.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Send him a B-17 or a Spruce Goose.

Clement

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

It does not matter how it happened......the point is....it did! We should all take a moment before we fly.....EVERY TIME......to Check, re-check, and check again our equiptment, our location, and our flying habits......... thoroughly!

I'm not preaching here, just saddened by the things that can, and do happen when we least expect it. Everyone knows that the pilot did not wake up that morning and decide he was going to kill a couple of people with his bird! This was an accident... and none of us.....EVER.......want to feel like that pilot is feeling today, tomorrow, and the rest of his life.

Fly Safe, have fun, Fly Safe

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Yikes! reality check. I flew at a full size airshow last year for the first time. I checked and rechecked the equipment, flew it the day before and was still uncomfortable about flying in front of so many people! after seeing that video I may just pass on it next time. something could happen. and I would rather not be involved.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Paul Harvey mentioned this accident on his commentary this morning.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

These accidents where people get killed by rc aircraft get on the news because they are so rare! Betcha paul didnt mention the 3 teens killed in a car accident in my state over the weekend

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Crown Vic,

Good point

After reading your post I looked up some stats.

I didn't realize that last year about 50 people were
killed on ATV's in my state. I don't seem to remember
anyone mentioning that in the news. Actually I was quite
surprised about how many people are killed during various
activities and , (as you say) hardly ever get mentioned.

You should see the stats on death due to cell phone use
while driving......and I know that everyone reading this
NEVER does that. Funny , I don't remember hearing about
that on the news either.

Regards
Roby

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Recreational boating kills a lot of people each year......more than models anyhow.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

A whole lot more information on the jets forum and the Crash pictures forum.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Roby I 100% Agree with you , everybody is making to of a big deal , In my life I went to over 50 air show (real planes) in 4 of those 50 air show where accident with casualties , still that didnt stop other air show to take place and never will
Gabe.



PS.My Condolence to the family of this horrible tragedy

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

It is IMPERATIVE that we take note of this incident and we seem to be in agreement with respect to importance of safety.
This must improve our safety awareness and I’m sure it will. For those who take this incident without the due attention it warrants, I say for the good of us all, please change the way you view your hobby and take it more seriously. You can help to educate your club members who are new to the hobby.
I must interject with respect to interference and the "PCM" myth.. After viewing the short video, it seems that the pilot has competent flying skills and I would say that he is probably over the flight line and not the crowd…. There are to many unknowns for us to be able to identify the cause of this crash…. PCM receivers (contrary to some of the ret erect) only lock for as much as 1.5 seconds and then cycle back on to recapture the transmitter signal. I have first hand knowledge of this operation. I was myself flying at an “Air show” (full-scale) when my receiver locked out during a flight… I had control for 2 seconds and then no control for two seconds and then back on, until I eventually put the plane down in an unpopulated part of the airport….Luckily the grass strip we were using at the time. Damage to plane was repaired and the eventual culprit was within the receiver it self.. The possible causes for this fatal severe crash in Hungary, could be Battery, servos, connectors, switch contacts, or the receiver itself…or any connecting wiring… or even a glitch buster between the receiver and servos.. I hesitate to point at a PCM receiver though as there would likely have been stick input at some point and it would have shown up in the aircraft attitude between Lock outs before going in…. If any of you have ever experienced a severe glitch in your FM receiver, resulting in a crash, you will agree that you have absolutely NO CONTROL over your craft as long as a glitch is present….The video appears to show that the plane is not responding at all from the bottom of the split “S” until the crash. Barring statistics on FM vs PCM receiver internal failure rates, I would suggest that more aircraft crash (while experiencing a radio glitch problem) flying with FM receivers than PCM receivers. The PCM receiver diagnostic (lock out function) tells you something is wrong while giving you a chance to bring the craft down safely or put it in, away from the crowd… Having 18 years of RC experience and having flown at & CD,d RC involvement at full scale air shows for 11 years, I can fully appreciate the logistics of putting on Model flying displays and the safety needs as well. Our own Distance of crowd to spectators is usually 500 feet: 5 times the MAAC requirements. We are all susceptible to a failure at some time… We can minimize the severity of consequences resulting from failures by learning from our mistakes, and even better, learning by others mistakes who come before us.
Please be safe.

Cheers.
Rob ,
RCFCBC
British Columbia
Canada.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

I fly giant scale (yak 55 35 %comp) and I think I am the only one at my field that use PA-4 Pilot Assist Link Auto Pilot with his own battery ,In case my rx go to fail safe or the receiver goes out my it will get altitude to 150 feet by himself and fly in a circle untill my g3 futaba receiver find another channel , I test this and it works , in case my rx fail the plane a soon the gas end it will fly down in a circle , offcorse is going to be damage on the plane but I can assure you that this system it will give a lot of time to think about what to do next and the moust important thing is the safety for the people around you
G.
PS: we spent thousand on big scale planes add a $50 PA Auto Pilot system wont hurt anybody wallet

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Very good point,
On that note I have had some dealings with similar add ons with some of our members and the technology is still developing. I have seen various problems with some of the systems but i believe it will come around.. Its still buyer be ware when it come to !QUOT!who's!QUOT! electronics you go with.. But that system is definitely somthing that we should all look at using. My own craft start at 1/4 scale and go up from there,,ending with a 1/2 scale Space Walker....Still working on the 1/2 scale bird though... and have flown a friends 1/2 scale already..... Already he has designed redundancy into the electronics..

Take care all..

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

with a little work i was able to modified the auto pilot + i had to add 2 axis gyro , it took me almoust a week to figure it out , I think that this is the best choice for safety
G.

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Accidents do happen, some strange ones too, like mine last year when I hit an object off on the side of the runway during takeoff that wiped out the landing gear on my GP Big Stik 40. It was already up and running when it impacted and it flew on past allowing me to keep control and get it up where I slowed it down, made a circuit and came back for a low slow fly by inspection from eyes on the ground. We saw the LG ply mounting surface was gone. The Stik had been converted to a tail dragger on aluminum gear legs bolted to a 1/4 inch ply pad. My mistake was using steel mounting bolts..of which I knew better, but...
Anyway once the damage accessment "came in" from the guys, I decided to just go on and fly the plane till the fuel ran out and have a ball with it, as the upcoming Landing was going to be the end of a short flying day. However, the fickle finger of fate wiggled at me after I made a tight high speed turn pulling up into a vertical. We saw a dark object fall from the plane. I couldn't watch it long enough to determine what it was, not wanting to lose sight of the plane. No one was close enough to make it out either. At that point I aborted the climb, or thought I did as the plane leveled off, which is what I was aiming to do. I intended to circle but it was doing that itself! Running at full throttle and going in large flat circles. Round and round and climbing. I wiggled every thing on my TX to no avail, it kept on circling. The wind had gotten stronger and the plane drifted away from our strip with each circuit. It finally disappeared from sight behind some tree tops about a half mile off. I had no control at all. Then it hit me! That falling object was my battery pack! Two of us jumped in a pickup and took off down the highway. About a mile from the strip we saw a man and woman walking down a turnrow in the field behind their house. We turned in and followed them. The turns had become tighter and steeper and the plane eventually nosed into the ground. In a cow pasture about 150 yards from the back of the house was my Big Stik surrounded by some inquisitive cattle. No livestock nor property was damaged, than goodness. Let me tell everyone, that is the first time I had ever had such a thing happen in all my years in RC, and it ain't a good feelling. Driving up that highway looking out behind those houses I saw yard toys in most every yard indicating that young children lived or often visited there, and I began to get a bad feeling in my gut, until we spotted the couple out in the field. Something just told us to follow them. I don't want to ever go through that again. I knew it was going down somewhere, and prayed it would not be in a yard with kids. The plane lived to fly again. Lady luck was still smiling on me that Sunday afternoon. What did I hit on takeoff? A Crawfish chimney of mud, hard mud. They get several inches tall around here and often create problems for grass strips. This one was down the strip a ways and off to the side and barely visible from the other end. My plane just decided to weather vane into the wind and headed straight for it. The rest...yuk! A freak accident? Yes. But it could have been prevented if we had only driven or walked the length of the runway to check it out. That is a new rule at the field. Make sure the active runway is clear of obstructions, especially those made by Crawfish!

RE: Serious accident in Hungary, two persons killed.
 

Yes lucky you were.
Besides that crucial look at the landing strip to look for obstructions, you hopefully learned a lesson about continuing to fly a damaged plane... Although the fly past to inspect the undercarriage revealed little, a decision to just abort the rest of the flight would have saved you even more work...and that sickening feeling in your stomach.. The point is to learn and pass it on to others....(those that will listen anyway) Maybe a rule to direct abviuosly damaged airctraft to land as soon as is humanly (and safely) possible...and to avoid unnecasary flight maneuvers while in an emergency landing phase.

Take care and take safety first when piloting your craft.
Rob