RunRyder - F3C and safety

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Aerobatic FAI F3C Contest > F3C and safety

vagpas
Senior Heliman
Location: Thessaloniki-Greece

Following the death of the fellow modeller i wonder if any of you F3C guys considering the hovering manouvers to be too close to the pilot (especially B schedjule)

Fact is competition helis are the best in the world, flown by the best pilots, but still something can go wrong.

Also the majority of the helis have a very slow responce setup in the hover so in the case of some lock up it would take time to recover.

Do we need more distance between the machine and the pilot?
Do we need a new schedjule for 2006.

Lets hear you.

11-04-2003 Over year old.

Secret Squirrel
Key Veteran
Location: New Zealander living in Melbourne, Australia

Lets not over react here...
We can't go changing EVERYTHING cause of one incident.

Accidents could happen in this hobby at anytime. We can't go protecting ourselves from every eventuality.

In regards to the F3C hovering being unsafe, I'm not so sure. All the hovering is done with the skids at eye level.
I've done a fair bit of judging and can't recall at anytime when I feared for my safety or anything like that. Generally if the helicopter is going to fail, it's often picked up in the scrutineering.

What happened to Ron was a huge tragedy, but lets not over react.

Si

-------------
Simon Lockington

11-04-2003 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Andi G
Veteran
Location: Switzerland

Hi,

I think long time ago the hovering had to be done at eye level (rotor disc/blades one the same level as your eyes) and later it was changed to skids on the height of your eyes just in case a blade lets go. Still dangerous but I think you would have to change the FAI rules completely.
I had a short piece of a blade fly around my head with about 30cm distance, a reminder that we should ALWAYS use eyewear (sunglasses). Not that it would have helped in this case

Andi

11-04-2003 Over year old.

vagpas
Senior Heliman
Location: Thessaloniki-Greece

Si, i agree with you but would be wrong to give the pilot a couple of metres more clearance?
The distance between the blade tip and the head of the pilot is 3 metres in the hovering circle at the B schedgule.

11-04-2003 Over year old.

GM1
Elite Veteran
Location: Tallahassee, Florida US

distance

I guess if you stood in the front of the F3C pilot circle and counted the length of the blades you could be three meters from the pilot BUT That is the ONLY maneuver that gets that close and if you move back to get a little more clearance, then you have to land and shoot autos from so far away you cannot see the landing circle. It would be easier to amend the "B" schedule and remove the offending maneuver. Personally, I feel pretty safe at my current distance, 3 1/2 to 4 meters close approach but also realize that anything can (and does) happen at any time so I try to stay ready to take off if anything goes awry.
Gordie

On a dog sled team, if you're not the lead dog, the view never changes.

11-04-2003 Over year old.

Optech
Key Veteran
Location: Vista/Oceanside, CA.

Also,
The incident that happened concerned a beginner at the controls. I would think by the time your at the FAI-F3C level, you would be able to recognize and react to a situation much more efficiently than that beginner did.

Granted, you could suffer a mechanical failure. Again, I would think that at that level of flying, you should have enough experience to build and maintain a heli to minimize that situation. As far as hazard analysis, I would rank it the same risk as slipping in the shower.

For what its worth, this situation has already been considered to some degree. In the lower AMA Class I, the pilot used to stand right on the edge of the box. For several reasons it was decided to move him/her back to the 2 meter line.

Mike

Viva La Airtronics!

11-04-2003 Over year old.

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Aerobatic FAI F3C Contest > F3C and safety

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