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HeliHobby . Ron’s HeliProz South . Century Helicopter

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Safety - RC Helis are not toys > This hobby is scaring the hell out of me!
 
 
JJsaratogaNY
Senior Heliman
Location: Centreville, Virginia

life is risky, you can't avoid risk. if you are not prepared to accept risks, then stay away from the fly in/fun fly's. it's your choice. But don't ruin my life because you think what I am doing is too risky. IF I was doing knife edge loops in a schoolyard, then you should ask for more restrictions. BUT WE AREN'T! most of the flying fields that I've seen, are out in the middle of NOWHERE!. there's reason for that. It really makes me mad as hell when people try to do my thinking for me. If you don't like the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen.
08-24-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
fitenfyr
rrProfessor
Location: Port Orchard, Washington

Push your limits...

Just do it with some regard for EVERYONES saftey. Including your own. It won't make a squat bit difference if the heli is inverted 2 feet in front of you or 20. It still looks good.
Jason had me doing some real low passes in the weeds at the last fun fly. First Freestyle I did EVER and I got 3rd. Ask me how far away the heli was? Not less than 20 feet EVER during the entire flight except when I landed and shut down.
No one felt threatened and everyone thought it was great.
BTW it was an audience judged Freestyle.

Jason Stiffey
Fly Fast....Live Slow...
08-24-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Doug
Elite Veteran
Location: Naples Florida....

It all comes down to risk management. Yours and any spectators. If not done by us then someone else will do it for us and we may not like the result

First member of Member of Bearings Anonymous
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
mfendley
Senior Heliman
Location: Saint Marys, GA

Here's the Fury that Kam was talking about





First test flight after repairing a faulty servo -
performed range check
tested the fail-safe setting with engine running (no blades) by turning the radio off, throttle dropped to an idle, all other servos held their position.

Installed blades, ran it up, moved the cyclic stick noting the correct response from the swashplate.

Added a little collective, the heli rose about 18 inches - no control.

Hit throttle hold - nothing.

Turned tx off and back on - nothing.

Followed the heli about 80 feet until it finally crashed, and did that funkey chicken dance we all hate.

OS91 did not quit, I finally pinched off the fuel line when it quit moving.

Within 90 sec, the heli caught fire from the clutch area.

I took the heli to a paved area, called my wife and told her to bring the fire extinguisher. She arrived in less than 5 minutes - it took everything the extinguisher had to put it out.

On the plus side, I emailed a couple of my friends to show my latest misfortune, and have had several offers for loaner helis. I doesn't replace my Extreme, but helis come and heli go (sometimes in flames) but your flying buddies are always there for you.

Mike
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
mark fadely
Senior Heliman
Location: indianapolis, indiana

hi,

a lot of good points have been made on this safety topic. ironically the latest person to die in in an r/c accident was flying a trainer 40 airplane. furthermore, he was the safety officer at his sanctioned ama flying field where the accident occured. the fatal injury happened when the pilot lost the plane in the sun and got it heading right at himself and the 40 size aircraft struck him in the chest. he died on the way to the hospital. it is amazing that there are not more heli accidents considering the stressful 3d flying we all do today. this account puts things into perspective for me.

mark fadely
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Kam Wyatt
Senior Heliman
Location: cottondale, Fl.

Mark

We missed you at ircha. I'm still working on those nose in tail in
manuevers that you do so well.
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Rotor
Key Veteran
Location: USA

I think Doug made a very wise statement.....

My motto is this..Fly...Rebuild...Fly
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
mongo
Veteran
Location: Midland, Republic of TEXAS

well mark,
i guess the main thing going fer us is, helis don't fly too well when left to their own guidance. a radio problem, and it goes down, a fly thru the sun problem, and it goes down, an mechanical failure and it goes down. and because they are hard to keep flying when things are right, when things go wrong, they go down quickly. well except fer that guy with all the channels set to hold on his PCM set up, and his may hover/fly off into the sunset, but with a low throttle setting even that guy comes down quickly.

Copyright © 2001-2005 Mongo Consulting. All rights reserved.
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Twobeers
Key Veteran
Location: Toronto, Canada

If its scaring you to much you should get out of the hobby then. I offer you $100.00 for your heli, radio, spareparts and all other related stuff. Sounds like a good deal to me.

I lost my infamous tag line.
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Lift
Elite Veteran
Location: Houston, TX

Saftey and Fun-flys

Guys I was involved in this topic back in Feb or March after Ron Lund's fun-fly in Corpus. Alot of peoples feathers got ruffled and it was the EXACT same issue. But, Jeff (Hitch-Hiker) is one of the top pilots around and he is speaking the truth. And AGAIN we are seeing the same attack on the messenger from the "don't preach safety to me crowd."

This hobby is growing like a wild-fire. With it's popularity comes the increased chance of a fatality if safety is not paramount in our minds and actions. It is funny how all you guys are saying "get outta the kitchen if you can't stand the heat....." , or "don't go to the fun-flys." But when some organization be it the government or AMA or whatever steps in and trys to impose regulations you will be the FIRST to whine!!

The point Jeff is making is simply a call to action that we all need to be more safety concientious(sp?) when flying our helis. If doing away with some maneuvers or having pilots further out on the flight line is necessary then so be it. Because, if we don't do it then as Doug said someone else is gonna try to do it for us. We won't like the outcome. I promise.
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
corey11
Elite Veteran
Location: Bay Area, California

ok.........

No more arguing about this. All of us just have to follow a couple rules.They are..........
1. Stay at LEAST 20 feet away from the heli
2. check the heli OVER after each flight
3. If the sun is almost infront of you and your flying up high, bring it down, land it, and get some sunglasses
4. when flying like a mad man(like a pro), dont fly it right towards you, get it as close as possible and turn it around real quickly
5. If your scared to fly a heli. DONT FLY IT!! an accedent WILL happen. but maybe instead of hitting the ground it hits you or some one else
6. Kill your engine if running when you crash
7. Check to make sure EVERYTHING is working right, throttle hold, idle up, etc, etc
8. And the most important rule is....................................

SAFETY FIRST!!!!!!

You have to take risk when flying your heli. i mean, taking of and landing is a risk. that should be the only time you close to your self. i feel more confortable flying around than hovering. why. because the heli is farther away!

With all that said, lets just fly safe and not do anything stupid!
08-24-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
BrettD.
Heliman
Location: Portland, Oregon

It's human nature to feel the need for excitement. Usually, flying "safe" will not provide excitement for anyone but the pilot. It's a risk the pilot and the spectators are willing to take. If you don't like it, move away. Nobody told you that you had to watch these guys do that. BUT, I admire that you care enough about people to post such a thing. May be corny, but I see that as a great quality in a person. Mongo, I am new to this hobby, but not to watching people fly these things. It is alot of the times, the "nobody" that attempts to do these things, and they hurt themselves and the spectators. If you can't do these manuvers, don't try and do it full blast. Work up to it. As for mechanical failures, just hope the pilot does good pre-flight inspections
08-24-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
jimmyhua
Veteran
Location: Guam

Risk the Heli, not Yourself or Others

I generally agree with all the statements put out here on both sides.

For your excitement, I think flying the heli low to the ground is a start. Just keep it far far away from yourself and other people while doing this, and all will be fine and dandy.

I personally like to fly, when no one else is around. This way, there is no chance I will hit anyone else. I'm usually so low, if anything mechanical goes wrong the heli eats dirt before it can do anything else. This is just a personal preference of mine.

Plus, when you have the heli low, and inverted, you still definitely get some kind of rush. If you don't something is wrong with you .

I used to want to fly real planes or helicopters. But now, I find I can have my cake and eat it too! I don't put myself at risk doing aerobatic manuevers! If I wanted to do that, I'd be flying the real thing and wringing her out .


Jimmy
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Malorie
Elite Veteran
Location: Paw squared, MI

Lift is absolutely right. You can certainly thrill the croud without putting yourself or them at risk. I have seen far to many pilots that never even consider the very basic force of inertia. If your heli is headed at you or the spectators when something fails, it will continue in that direction. The less time you spend headed toward you or spectators, the lower the risk.

The whole point of this topic is not about making rules that have to be followed, it's about regulating yourself so that the AMA or anyone else doesn't have to. If there is a fatal accident, they will make rules for you. If you fly safely you reduce the risk of that accident ever happening.

Go out, have fun, by all means push the limits, just do it safely.

Malorie

Life's a journey, NOT a destination.
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
blazen
Senior Heliman
Location: California

Quote
>>It really makes me mad as hell when people try to do my thinking for me. If you don't like the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen.<<

KISS MY WHAT !!!!!

You just better take a step back because the last time I checked GOD did not step down and grant you ultimate authority to do as you please whenever you please !!!!
It’s a good thing that there are people out there doing the thinking for a lot of other people that obviously aren’t capable of making rational decisions on there own “Welcome to America”

Further more I have every right to voice my opinion on safety and NO ONE will ever force me to leave a flying site or fun fly just because they want to fly like a dam fool !!!
I cant wait for the day someone says to me “If you don't like the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen” because I’ll shove that dam helicopter down there throat so far they’ll be Pissing Nitro and ****ting Rotor Blades for a month of Sundays
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
spincycl
Veteran
Location: Marietta, GA

My $0.02

Yes, there are a lot who fly too close, particularly inverted hovers. I am trying to break the habit of coming backwards at myself and flipping forward. If a servo/linkage ever failed, I am toast.

But, as far as fun flys go, I have not seen too many dumb things. In GENERAL, they at least keep the flying outside the runway or chalk line (as instructed by the CD, usually).

I trust everybody to my left and right at a funfly MORE than myself. What I DON'T trust is electronics, and mechanics. No matter what, things fail, and you don't know when.

But, You can't tell any pilot to not do a maneuver just because it's too dangerous. As long as they do it within the rules of the club/event, they should do it. You also can't always fly only left, right and out, just to keep the heli heading away from you, in case of failure. Eventually, you have to point it at the pilot and the crowd.

On the crowd: The pilot basically is out there (and the spotter), and is vulnerable to injury, and that goes with the territory. But, also the spectators also are. When they pull into the parking lot, and start watching, they could be hurt by a heli, period. When you go to a ball game, the foul balls could hurt somebody. Just like any other sport whether participant or spectator, there IS a danger.
08-24-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
vapor
Heliman
Location: wi

Oh no look the sky is falling again.
The product label on some servo packaging also states somthing about ( known to cause cancer in the state of California )
So lets all whine and cry, call our attorneys and see how far this hobby
really can progress backwards. Did everyone quit going to McDonalds
because the coffie was hot ?
08-24-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Rotor
Key Veteran
Location: USA

Let me share a true story from a "major" heli fun fly last year that could have very well ended in a tragic way. As I remember there were between 120 to 130 pilots registered at this fun fly and I have to add a lot of "Very Good" pilots too, some of the best in the US.. Well, as the story goes. The radios were being impounded. If you wanted to fly you went to the impound and told them what number radio transmitter you wanted (at the start of the fun fly they gave each pilot a numbered sticker to put on your radio that started with the number one and went through as many radios as were at the fun fly) they would then get the freq. clothes pin and give you your transmitter and the freq. pin.
A friend that traveled to the fun fly with me was working on his heli and needed the transmitter to finish working on it and then to fly it so I told him I would go and get it for him at the impound and he could keep working on it while I was getting it. At the impound I told the person in control of the frequency pins that I needed radio number 53 and the freq. pin for it. He gave them to me and I thanked him and took it back to my friend for him to use. He had just gotten done with what he was working on when I returned and he was ready to finish it up by turning on the radio and checking it out. I had clamped the freq. pin to the ant. of his radio and just before turning it on he took a look at the freq. pin number that was pinned to the ant. and discovered that they had given me his radio with the number 53 sticker on it and also freq. pin number 53. Now the problem was this. His radio freq. was channel 19.
Since he caught it he did not turn it on but what if he had.
I then proceeded to take it back to straighten things out but as I was going back to the impoundment I thought I would check out the flight line. This is what was taking place at the very time we had the wrong freq. pin. There were 3 very well known top ranked heli pilots on the flight line doing the thing where they are all doing funnels very close to them and just off of the ground and each others funnels are going inside each others funnels as they take turns sharing each others funnel space. In other words the center guy has to share his funnel space with each one of the other two pilots funnel circles ( I don't know what this is called but it sure looks cool to watch). Let me say this, "None of the three were doing anything wrong and were flying this thing perfectly". I don't remember for sure who the three were but I do remember that Jason Krause was the one in the middle and I think Dave Storey was to the left and I think Scott Cathy to the right and I could be wrong about Dave and Scott. Anyway as I said they were not the problem.
When I got back to the impound I found out that the freq. pin for that channel was indeed in use. Here is what "scares" me. What if this radio had been turned on? What if it were one of the three doing this very cool to watch thing and all of a sudden "Wham" one of these three pilots flying these great and high powered machines no longer has any control over it due to someone else turning on their radio on someones elses channel. I know you're thinking, "Hey, always check your freq. pin before turning on the radio and we all agree that is correct but I think it would be foolish for us to believe that this doesn't happen.
Once again let me say that the pilots were doing nothing wrong but if the radio was on one of their freq.s and as fast and as low and as close to them as the copters were, I can't imagine someone not getting hit by at least one of the heli's and maybe a couple of them.
I know, "If I can't take the heat I should get out of the kitchen" but you know what? Who hear would like to see any of these three great pilots get hurt that way? As far as that goes who of us wants to see any of our fellow pilots hurt? Execeptional pilot or novice, none of us want to see that. I love watching terrific heli pilots do this stuff that I will never be able to do, it really gets ones heart pumping but when it happens and it probably will I also will sure not like seeing one of my fellow heli pilots hurt or killed. The rule changes that follow none of us will like but most of all I don't want to see one of them hurt bad or killed. So, I guess I could get out of the hot kitchen and give up the sport of heli flying but I won't because I love it! Just be as safe as we can be and look for potential trouble so we can head it off before it happens. No one could ask any of us to do any more than that. Thanks for listening to my rambling as this is by far the most words I have ever typed in a post!

My motto is this..Fly...Rebuild...Fly
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
heliman41
Key Veteran
Location: Valparaiso IN. USA

That is the delema of large funflys somebody almost always screws up and gets somebodys heli hit, it usually only happens once to sober everybody up and put em on hi alert, its happened at every funfly ive been to this yr so far. We are only human after all..................What I do is triple chk that it is indeed my pin then I watch all the helis in the air when I turn it on just in case IF I ever do see a heli go south Ill shut down my TX stat and investigate I think everyone should look overhead and do it my way would save a few crashes now and then if you are looking while turning on instead of facing your heli or the ground. Anyway doing it this way assures me and everyone else that I am doing my utmost to protect their investment as well.
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
Lapointe
Senior Heliman
Location: Enumclaw, Wash

Fury fireball

Thats the second Fury I have seen that burned up due to runaway motor and clutch failure. Looks like a trend of the Fury is about to show itself??? Thats scary!

Keith Lapointe
08-24-2002 Over year old.
 
 
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Safety - RC Helis are not toys > This hobby is scaring the hell out of me!
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