How close do you fly?
 

I am getting more and more concerned watching other pilots fly. There seems to be a huge number of folks that are excellent pilots who fly less than 10 feet from themselves, spool up less than 5 feet, etc.

I am not the worlds best heli pilot, nor the worst. I have flown from the Trex to turbine powered and everything in between, so my concern is balanced. This holds true across the entire spectrum of helicopters, at least to my observation.

Now, you fly close to yourself. How fast can you move out of the way if a servo pot fails on the swashplate and goes hard over in a direction that will bring the heli into you? Ever seen it happen? I have seen 3. Each one happened so fast the pilot had no chance to do anything, and in that instance there really isn't anything one can do but hope it greets Planet Earth before anyone gets hurt.

But wait........ Lets just say a blade lets go. Seen that happen too.....usually too high of a head speed, but feathering shafts and grips break, not often, but they do. Can you image what a blade at 1600 RPM can do to you from 5 feet away at chest level? I am a retired Paramedic. I sure as heck can.

This is a neat, fun, expensive hobby. Lets keep the expense in the mechanical side of things, fly the heli farther away from yourself, progressively farther according to the size of the heli. I suggest as a simple guideline, according to rotor diameter, the following safety distances.

Less than 1 meter=10 feet
1-1.5 meter=20 feet
1.5-2 meter=30 feet
2 meter and up=40+ feet.

Maiden flights or flights after repairs the distance should be increased just as a precaution.

Please be safe, when someone gets hurt by a plane it is the persons error, but when a heli hurts someone, the heli gets blamed for being dangerous and unsafe. We all know that isn't true, lack of respect for the dangers is the issue.

Think safe
Jack

RE: How close do you fly?
 

i think it's very ignorant to not keep some distance between yourself and the heli and especially other people and your heli but i think your distances are a bit excessive. I've seen folks try to hover and then reach out and grab the vertical fin and when he said 'Man wasn't that the coolest thing you've ever seen' i gladly said 'No, probably the most stupid' but a 5-10 foot distance from the Pilot on a 10 sized glow bird and up is probably more acceptable then 30 or 40.

I'd agree that your distances are at least a minimum you should stay away from spectators.

kc

RE: How close do you fly?
 

My first crash (Raptor30) was about a four foot hover and I dumb thumbed it into the ground. Pieces went every where. A piece of fin or tail rotor blade was thrown and hit me in the belly near the belly button. It sting and left a funny looking bruise. I thought ... what if that was a bigger piece ... what if I had forward speed

The crash site was about 25 feet away.

I enjoyed watching the good pilots at the Huntsville fly in but just couldn't really enjoy it seeing people standing around pilots (one spotter was required) with their 90 size helis less than 15 feet away doing all sorts of maneuvers within 10 feet of the ground.
I just make sure I'm well within the spectator areas ... for what it's worth.

Good Luck,
d.tipton

RE: How close do you fly?
 

I think, just like everything else, theres personal risk assement involved by anyone that flies.

Assuming, say, a blade grip failed in flight and the rotorblade comes off at peak headspeed. There's a total, 360 degree potential area of exit for that blade. The chances of it hitting you, and blade tip first even (which would be the most dangerous), are not that great. Can it happen? Sure it can. Crashing a helicopter and pieces flying off and hitting you can happen too, and the odds of this are greater as there are more pieces in the air.

What it comes down to is each persons own decision for accepting the consequences of their actions. The odds are that if a blade fails in flight, it won't hit you, but theres always that chance, and flying closer to your self simply decreases any potential reaction time. So, is that a risk you're willing to take, or not? Some people are willing to accept the risk and fly up close and personal, other's aren't.

It's the same with wearing a helmet while riding your bike. The chances of you landing on your head and suffering severe injuries are not great, but it can and does happen, so are you willing to risk riding without a helmet? Some do, some don't.


Flying near spectators, however, is simply irresponsible. You should never, under any circumstances, put the safety of someone elses body or life at the mercy of something so potentially dangerous.

If you want to fly alone and hover the helicopter 4 inches from your nose though? Go ahead. Aslong as the only person that could potentially get hurt is yourself and no one else, I see no problem with it. It comes down to everyones individual judgement and risk assesment.

RE: How close do you fly?
 

My speaking up came about because I saw a pilot at our field who had never been seen with a helicopter before. He felt is was safe to hover 5 feet from himself, there were others around within 30 feet.

I agree, you wanna fly alone do whatever.

One of my concerns comes from the fact I was the first person allowed to fly helicopters at our field.....3 years ago. Time has progressed, and now we have one fairly good 3D pilot, 4 learning (all over 60), and finally the guys have accepted them and are interested. But, if this dude were to have hurt himself or anyone else, it would have been the helicopters fault, not his, and possibly heli's could be banned from the field. I don't want to see that happen.

Again, though I have seen tail rotors fail and just miss people, I have seen blades go, dumb thumbs, etc.

Oh well, I am just becoming an old Paramedic with too much life experience and paranoia. Murphys law is functional.
Jack

RE: How close do you fly?
 

That's the thing that always scare me. I'm new to helicopters. What's the good way to prevent a scenario from happening? Check the blade bolt everytime flight? How about just solder the thing.

RE: How close do you fly?
 

Make sure to locktite your spindle bolts and do a good preflight before the first flight of each day, checking linkages and looking for slop in the head. If the spindle bolts are coming loose you'll notice some play. It isn't always possible to catch everything but it's worth a look every time you go out to fly. An actual failure in the air is pretty rare, usually if anything happens, something will come loose and the heli won't fly right, but it's rare to actually see a part fly off the helicopter. When I fly I'm usually at least 30 feet away from me, flying 50 and 90 size helis.

RE: How close do you fly?
 

The best way to prevent any mechanical failure is to simply go over your helicopter before every flight. I can personally attest to the fact of this saving my butt multiple times. I usually check every ball link and every high stress area bolt to ensure nothing is coming loose or has play.
You can't catch everything all the time of course. I've had my tail rotor fail in flight causing a crash, even after a full pre-flight inspection. Sometimes, stuff just gives. All you can do is excersize due diligence and hope for the best anytime you fly.

I do agree with you though helijack. People who fly too close can potentially cause problems for the rest of us in the event something DOES go wrong. But there really isn't much you can do about it.

If theres a few guys in your club who fly too close, you can try talking to them, but in the end, it comes down to each pilot every time they spool up that rotorhead. You can only hope nothing goes wrong. :)

RE: How close do you fly?
 

Time will tell here, as a group, those of us that fly helis are concerned. We feel we need to police ourselves so that we do not get in the position of having the whole club tell us what we can and can't do, what is safe, etc.

As far as not doing a good preflight and having a failure, that pilot deserves whatever. But bolts break, grips break, bearings seize, belts break. servos have pots go bad, ground wires break. Lots of folks don't use PCM on too, especially the newer ones coming from the ranks of the planks.

Yes, I know there is 360 degrees , but the cone decreases the closer you are to the heli, pretty soon you are in mor than a 40 degree arc. Again, it isn't just blades. There are so many things that can fail, even with religious maintenance. I hate looking like the weinie out here crying wolf. Someone needs to.

By the way, I practice what I preach, my micro is never intentionally closer that 20 feet. My turbine I spool up over 50 feet away. My Gassers, somewhere inbetween, I would estimate 30-40 feet.

Here is a laugh, I am seriously considering a Kevlar vest.
Jack

RE: How close do you fly?
 

In fact, F3C flying requies you to be at about 5 meters at some moments. That is 15 feet. And many F3C people are flying 90 size stuff. And it seems usual to hover at about 2 meters (6 feet) when testing is done in the start box. I have a 50 size but still I think 5 meters is pretty close. But what do you do if you like F3C flying? You need to be close for precision flying anyway, this flying is about movements in the centimeter range

RE: How close do you fly?
 

i would be least scared of a blade flying off. as Helijack said lots of things can go wrong and do go wrong.. having the thing twist out of control and slam me or much much worse someone else or their property is what worries me... people have been killed on more than one occasion by an out of control rc helicopter.
Some vids circulating the net don't help the promotion of safety matters either. you have guys flying them under and into shade covers , other's clowning around by tieing them to fishing poles etc... ridiculous.

RE: How close do you fly?
 

well how does this sound......i have seen many vids of the worlds best flyer alan zarbo and you know in quite a few he is way too close to the crowd.....yes he is an awsome flier but ,,,,,,,,

RE: How close do you fly?
 

I couldn;t agree more.