ChrisW
Senior Heliman
Location: Carlsbad, CA
| My buddy (an experienced RC heli pilot) had his beautiful new Raptor 90 out today for it's first flight...
After all the basic checks etc., we got the YS91 started up and he sat the heli on the grass and spooled it up.
After some time letting the engine run, he wanted just to pick it up in a hover for it's first time in the air. Another buddy and I were standing 10 ft or so behind the pilot, who was about 20 ft. from the heli.
He picked the heli up in a hover, about 10 seconds later....BOOM!...something failed...The beautiful new Raptor 90 rolled into the soft wet grass (thank God it rained last night!). The V-blades broke and I sensed something fly by my left ear!
My buddy was shocked to say the least as his new brand new bird was broken!
When he turned around to talk to us he had a large lump and blood on his forehead above his left eye...He didn't even realize he had been injured..yet.
We found all the parts and apparently he was hit by the outer 1/4 (tip) of one of the V-blades that broke. It must of glanced off his forehead and that was what whizzed by me.
We are all guilty of not giving these machines enough room. We all should have been at least twice as far from the machine as we were.
I've been around RC helis religeously for 16 years and I guess I've become lax about safety ... Thank God my friend wasn't hurt more seriously... 1 inch lower and he could of lost an eye or if it hadn't been at a "glancing" angle it could of hit him in the temple with more energy doing much more damage...who knows how bad it could of been.
My best friends for the most part have been fellow heli pilots and I would hate to lose one them to an accident....so please guys, for your own sakes, give our machine lots more room...and stand waaaaay back.
-ChrisW |
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