How safe are micro electric helicopters like the Dragonfly #4. If a blade struck a finger, could it cut it off?

Thanks

It won't cut it off, but it'll hurt like hell, and bruise quite nicely. This I know from experience . FP helis don't have a high enough headspeed to do any 'real' damage. If you go to collective pitch helicopters in the same size range, i'd suppose they'd probably have enough physical enertia to break finger bones on contact. Should a blade happen to come off during flight on a collective pitch helicopter, well, it's a good chance they'd have enough enertia to impale you if you got in the way and it hit you straight on. Obviously, the odds of that happening are like 1 in a million but the power is still there, and so is the threat, so it's always good to do proper pre-flight checks every time you fly .

The danger vs death ratio goes up considerably the bigger the helicopter gets, especially if they're using fibreglass blades. It won't be the first time someone has died from an RC helicopter. I think there was a topic on this just recently, probably a few pages back, if it interests you.

Dug this up for you, have a look:
http://www.heliguy.com/nexus/dangers.html

As wth everything in life you probably don't want to get hit in the eye. Other than that you're safe.

Is it possible to buy foam blades to put on the Walkera #4?

The Walkera 4 doesn't have enough energy to be a serious issue, unless you're unlucky enough to get hit in a bad spot.

I've flown mine into me several times... Once under full throttle, right into bare shins. A hazard of flying in a very small area inside.

Well, it hurt a LOT, but a little scratch and a tiny bead of blood the size of a pinhead.

Of course, that was at hover power. Maybe under full throttle with a bigger battery it would have been a little worse.

On the other hand, I keep right away from the AluSEF even with it's plastic blades. Let alone woodies.

David

Actually, micros have a higher headspeed than most of the big birds...the difference is inertia, less weight means its easier to stop the blades....

I got myself on the back of the head with my blade cp, it did cut me, but it was more of a "it hit hard enough to sqeeze the skin against the bone and break it" rather than cut it...dont ask how i got myself in that situation, it was quite funny...but dumb as hell...

I can tell you something else, it kills if it hits your fingernails, and will turn them black for a week...

Both times i got the blade, it was because i was trying to do something that i know i shouldnt be doing at my skill level...the first time wasnt enough to teach me (was the findernail first) but getting smacked in the head did the trick...

Just be safe, use common sense, and have fun. Dont be scared of the heli, that will cause more crashes than you could believe, if its coming at you, learn to drive it away rather than just ducking, because once you get a big heli, thats not a choice, as once you duck and loose sight of it, other people around you could be seriously hurt, so use a micro as a step to learning to not be scared of the blades to the point of crashing, but respecting them and their power at the same time..

Beware of that little blade spinning at the back too! The rear rotor has a shaper LE than the mains.

Yeah, the tail rotor is more likely to draw blood if anything. Nothing serious, but it will part the skin rather easily compared to the main blades.

re: tail rotor...definatly...especially if you fly off concrete, every time you smack the ground with it, you sharpen it...

the Dragonfly tears your wallet apart and eats all your credit cards ...... very dangerous !