Safety Comes First
SHORT ANTENNA: While I lived in Tennessee several years ago, I spent many Saturday afternoons flying with a group of guys at the Millington Barnstormers R/C Flying Club. It was an active club with many members who loved to fly, and several who liked build (but not fly) some of the oddest creations you could ever imagine. Anyway, we loved to get involved (heckle and cajole) whenever a new model was brought out to the field for its first flight. Being the good modelers that we were, it was fun to gather around, lend a few "constructive" comments, take a few pictures, offer to check trim, etc., then stand back to watch the aircraft's first flight. It was a time of great fun and many good memories.
Safety Comes First
SHORT ANTENNA: Several years ago I was fortunate enough to spend many of my Sunday afternoons flying with good friends at the Millington Barnstormers R/C flying field in Millington TN. It was fun to open a lawn chair, check out what others brought to fly, watch what flew well, and share comments about what didn't. An abundance of the club's members brought out steady streams of the oddest configurations I've ever seen-gyrocopters, flying disks, lawn mowers, witches, stop signs, etc. It seemed that if someone in the club thought of something, someone else would build it and bring it to the field. It's odd that almost everything brought out flew-sometimes exceptionally well. Strap about 1,000 horsepower on that "Round Tuit" and watch it go. After a few trim adjustments (tabs full left, rudder full left, fly with what's left of aileron), most things can fly well; however, arriving to describe what didn't fly well was a letter from longtime Barnstormer Jim Prilliman, who wrote to warn those who have aircraft with antenna protruding from the fuselage and attached to the vertical stabilizer; vibration and rubbing on the antenna at the point where it exits the fuselage can cause the receiver antenna to separate.
Safety Comes First
SPLITTING FUEL JUGS: I indicated in my February 1998 column that a modeler wrote to alert me of a problem he encountered: plastic fuel jugs splitting open while in storage. Although not a new problem, several modelers inspected their supplies after reading the story and discovered similar fates-missing fuel. Robert McClure (Byron NY) provided a glimpse of frustrations and a possible solution: "Leaking fuel containers? I've had two. In 1996 a jug was in the original 4-bottle cardboard box, which I stored for two seasons in my home (no handling, no moving, no bumping, constant room temperature, no sun, etc.). I don't know when it leaked, and the jug was completely empty when I noticed the spot on the floor beneath the box. It had a crack in the center of the bottom of the jug.
Safety Comes First
HEAT-DEAD BATTERIES or Polarization? While scanning the Internet recently, I saw an interesting tidbit provided by The Society of Antique Modelers SAM 26 (Bob Angel, editor) which explained why numbers and letters on electronic displays sometimes seem to disappear. If memory serves, I've trashed or quit using a couple of pieces of equipment that didn't seem to be reliable: seems I may have wasted a few bucks! "My stopwatch was laying face-up in the hot sun, and I noticed the display had turned completely black and unreadable. Later, out of direct sun, it seemed to recover from the heat. We never had this problem with a mechanical watch!
Safety Comes First
HAPPY FOURTH of July! Reflecting on a few years ago, I remember looking forward to an annual Fourth of July event put on by a number of clubs with which I used to fly. Without a doubt, it rivaled some of the best fly-ins I've ever attended. Events usually include a fun-fly, night fly, barbecue, and a "blow what you bring" fireworks display, but rarely does one have an opportunity to have as much fun, eat as much food, watch greater crashes, hear as many "bangs," or more enjoy watching all of the skybound fireworks unload their colors. If your club plans to have a Fourth of July event this year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Council on Fireworks Safety offer the following safety tips:
