R/C Heli death
Discussion
Having flown fuel powered heli's for a few years I've always been aware of how dangerous these things are.
Sadly another life has been lost
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2413231/Ro...
Don't let complacency do this to you.
Sadly another life has been lost
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2413231/Ro...
Don't let complacency do this to you.
Sorry Eric, perhaps I should have worded it better. I wasn't trying to imply one heli had caused two deaths, more that another person had died as a result of flying a R/C helicopter.
http://gizmodo.com/a-swiss-man-was-killed-by-his-r...
http://gizmodo.com/a-swiss-man-was-killed-by-his-r...
Eric Mc said:
I didn't assume that this one incident had killed more than one person. I was just curious as to how many other people have been killed by model RC helicopters. Especially after we have very recently been discussing the use of RC camera drones by photographers, news gatherers etc.
You'd be right in assuming it had not happened before, on US soil. Im sure I read, blearey eyed this morning, its 'only' the second death of its kind in the US.I also read that the chap had been filmed previously, doing stunts near to his head with his heli.
Never realised they could be this deadly !That Drone thread was started by me. I got given a helicopter slightly bigger than that one by an old neighbour a few years ago (before gyros and the like were common in them). Unlike the new electric ones it was powered by a glow motor: to start it you had to be in the rotor. I never had the knack and was basically too scared so passed the helicopter on. The rotors on that one were balsa with the intention of shattering if they hit something- though after doing a proper amount of damage, so i dread to think what carbon blades on one would be like!
Sign of the times unfortunately.
I started flying in the 70's and got really serious in the late 80's early 90's. Back then if you wanted a plane or a helicopter you had to build it. It cost time and money, in some cases quite a lot of both. My F3a plane, sat on the tarmac ready to fly was around the £750+ mark and about 3-4 months to build. Because of this I had knowledge of the systems and a respect of what the aircraft was capable of. Rules of F3a at the time stated 10cc two stroke or 20cc four stroke max. engine size. I chose the former, the engine was rated at 2hp at 18k rpm, the plane's all up weight was 9lb's and out of the bottom of a loop was approaching 120mph. Noise rules meant that there was a 12" x 13" prop fitted to keep the RPM's down to around 9k rpm at full throttle.
It doesn't take the brains of a rocking horse to realise you wouldn't want to get hit by one of these, or get your pinkies caught up in the prop. Nowadays F3a planes fall into a two meter class so they are bigger with 30cc engines which are supercharged and fuel injected swinging 20" diameter or larger props.
I am at present flying electric. The motor fitted is rated at 2hp and swings a 16" prop. I fly a 500 sized heli which has a rotor diameter of over 1000mm. The 700 class has a rotor diameter of over 1500mm. All of this stuff is available to buy by the uninitiated over the internet today. They are mostly pre-built so can be ready for flight less than a day after delivery and taken to the local park.
Bottom line is that most people nowadays have no respect for what they are playing with and incidents will happen. The only surprise to me is that there aren't more of them.
Flying models does not have to be dangerous, (although of course, like driving, there is always a risk), just add a lot of common sense to the mix and its all good!
I started flying in the 70's and got really serious in the late 80's early 90's. Back then if you wanted a plane or a helicopter you had to build it. It cost time and money, in some cases quite a lot of both. My F3a plane, sat on the tarmac ready to fly was around the £750+ mark and about 3-4 months to build. Because of this I had knowledge of the systems and a respect of what the aircraft was capable of. Rules of F3a at the time stated 10cc two stroke or 20cc four stroke max. engine size. I chose the former, the engine was rated at 2hp at 18k rpm, the plane's all up weight was 9lb's and out of the bottom of a loop was approaching 120mph. Noise rules meant that there was a 12" x 13" prop fitted to keep the RPM's down to around 9k rpm at full throttle.
It doesn't take the brains of a rocking horse to realise you wouldn't want to get hit by one of these, or get your pinkies caught up in the prop. Nowadays F3a planes fall into a two meter class so they are bigger with 30cc engines which are supercharged and fuel injected swinging 20" diameter or larger props.
I am at present flying electric. The motor fitted is rated at 2hp and swings a 16" prop. I fly a 500 sized heli which has a rotor diameter of over 1000mm. The 700 class has a rotor diameter of over 1500mm. All of this stuff is available to buy by the uninitiated over the internet today. They are mostly pre-built so can be ready for flight less than a day after delivery and taken to the local park.
Bottom line is that most people nowadays have no respect for what they are playing with and incidents will happen. The only surprise to me is that there aren't more of them.
Flying models does not have to be dangerous, (although of course, like driving, there is always a risk), just add a lot of common sense to the mix and its all good!
iiyama said:
Sign of the times unfortunately.
I started flying in the 70's and got really serious in the late 80's early 90's. Back then if you wanted a plane or a helicopter you had to build it. It cost time and money, in some cases quite a lot of both. My F3a plane, sat on the tarmac ready to fly was around the £750+ mark and about 3-4 months to build. Because of this I had knowledge of the systems and a respect of what the aircraft was capable of. Rules of F3a at the time stated 10cc two stroke or 20cc four stroke max. engine size. I chose the former, the engine was rated at 2hp at 18k rpm, the plane's all up weight was 9lb's and out of the bottom of a loop was approaching 120mph. Noise rules meant that there was a 12" x 13" prop fitted to keep the RPM's down to around 9k rpm at full throttle.
It doesn't take the brains of a rocking horse to realise you wouldn't want to get hit by one of these, or get your pinkies caught up in the prop. Nowadays F3a planes fall into a two meter class so they are bigger with 30cc engines which are supercharged and fuel injected swinging 20" diameter or larger props.
I am at present flying electric. The motor fitted is rated at 2hp and swings a 16" prop. I fly a 500 sized heli which has a rotor diameter of over 1000mm. The 700 class has a rotor diameter of over 1500mm. All of this stuff is available to buy by the uninitiated over the internet today. They are mostly pre-built so can be ready for flight less than a day after delivery and taken to the local park.
Bottom line is that most people nowadays have no respect for what they are playing with and incidents will happen. The only surprise to me is that there aren't more of them.
Flying models does not have to be dangerous, (although of course, like driving, there is always a risk), just add a lot of common sense to the mix and its all good!
I agree with all of the above and having flown for various manufacturers myself in the 90's at shows around the UK I think there was a different attitude back then - ARTF was there but nowhere near as prevelant as it is today and we tended to build our models and treat them with respect. The general public (in the main) really have no idea just how bloody dangerous these 'toys' are. I've seen more badly cut fingers from a large prop than I'd like to see and to be fair had my share of cuts!I started flying in the 70's and got really serious in the late 80's early 90's. Back then if you wanted a plane or a helicopter you had to build it. It cost time and money, in some cases quite a lot of both. My F3a plane, sat on the tarmac ready to fly was around the £750+ mark and about 3-4 months to build. Because of this I had knowledge of the systems and a respect of what the aircraft was capable of. Rules of F3a at the time stated 10cc two stroke or 20cc four stroke max. engine size. I chose the former, the engine was rated at 2hp at 18k rpm, the plane's all up weight was 9lb's and out of the bottom of a loop was approaching 120mph. Noise rules meant that there was a 12" x 13" prop fitted to keep the RPM's down to around 9k rpm at full throttle.
It doesn't take the brains of a rocking horse to realise you wouldn't want to get hit by one of these, or get your pinkies caught up in the prop. Nowadays F3a planes fall into a two meter class so they are bigger with 30cc engines which are supercharged and fuel injected swinging 20" diameter or larger props.
I am at present flying electric. The motor fitted is rated at 2hp and swings a 16" prop. I fly a 500 sized heli which has a rotor diameter of over 1000mm. The 700 class has a rotor diameter of over 1500mm. All of this stuff is available to buy by the uninitiated over the internet today. They are mostly pre-built so can be ready for flight less than a day after delivery and taken to the local park.
Bottom line is that most people nowadays have no respect for what they are playing with and incidents will happen. The only surprise to me is that there aren't more of them.
Flying models does not have to be dangerous, (although of course, like driving, there is always a risk), just add a lot of common sense to the mix and its all good!
I think the lack of more accidents is a credit to the BMFA and clubs around the UK who have made the sport safe. Go to Worthing and buy a Park Flyer, hop across the road and try to fly with no training etc. and you are simply asking for trouble. As mentioned by dr_gn I also wonder just how many non club flyers have BMFA insurance.
By the way, I guess you may know John and Darren Mee who were up there in F3a? We used to hang out together at Newbury all those years ago.
iiyama said:
Know the names for sure.
I flew against Ken Binks and Terry Westrop amongst many others. Never beat those two though! Managed 9th at the '90's Nationals, (I think, may have been '89!), gave it up in '91 due to politics. Didn't fly again untill around fours years ago.
Both excellent flyers - however the image of Terry in his white suit with his 'Loaded Dice' reminds me of a bad 70's porn film! I flew against Ken Binks and Terry Westrop amongst many others. Never beat those two though! Managed 9th at the '90's Nationals, (I think, may have been '89!), gave it up in '91 due to politics. Didn't fly again untill around fours years ago.
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