I was lifting off last night and my 335 mm wooden blades exited the aircraft. Fortunately these projectiles did not hit me or any one else. The problem: no Loctite on the 2 mm feathering shaft screws. Don't make this mistake. I added a check of tightness to my pre-flight checklistlist. Don't make this huge mistake. We live (fortunately) and learn.

Just out of curiosity, how far did the blades travel once they were "jettisoned"?

While possibly painful I doubt they would do serious damage.

I definately wouldn't try that with 600mm carbons.

Had the same thing happen with an AXE cp. Screw holding the feathering spindle broke off at the head. Loctite worked fine, but the metal wasn't worth a crap. Parts flew everywhere but nobody was hurt, even though one person was hit. Factory recalled all those screws after that.

325's, whether wood or carbon, could do enormous damage if they struck a vulnerable area such as your neck. The chance for injury and death is there regardless of the models size when you've got pieces of wood or carbon spinning at 2000+ rpm.

If your neck happened to be directly in front of the point of release, you better have a damn good doctor on call.

I do agree though that the chances of "serious" injury are higher with larger blades that pack more inertia.

I agree with the potential destructive power of "jettisoned" blades...

But does this really deserve the title: "Safety Alert"?

It should be public knowledge that every bolt that goes into metal should have locktite, so the title should be more appropriately named "Don't Forget your loctite" Or something similar.

"Safety Alert" sounds like a manufacuter defect that the user has no control over.

Just my opinion. Let's keep the sensasionalism in check. We don't need it in our hobby.

Rafael

I had woodies shatter with a dumb thumb doing inveted, blade piece hit my leg....4 stitches later I still love inverted. IT WILL HURT

I had woodies shatter with a dumb thumb doing inveted, blade piece hit my leg....4 stitches later I still love inverted. IT WILL HURT

Hello everyone. I was amazed when I went through my 450SA and realized how small, but important those screws really are! I hope I never witness my Trex chuck'n a blade.

That's actually what I was expecting when I first saw this post..

HELLO! HELLO?

The post creator listening??

Rafael