Safety Comes First
WARNING! It has recently come to my attention that some brands of cyanoacrylate glue debonders contain acetonitrile which, if ingested in sufficient quantity, can cause cyanide poisoning. Acetonitrile, also known as methyl cyanide, is also sold for the removal of the glue used to attach false fingernails. I am aware of two incidents in which young children ingested acetonitrile, sold for this application under the brand name of Supernail Liquid Nail Off. In one of these incidents a 16-month-old boy is reported to have ingested one to two tablespoons of the liquid, a dose which proved to be fatal. The autopsy report listed the cause of death as "cyanide intoxication."
Safety Comes First
LIGHTNING: a hazard to model fliers? In the May 1988 issue I briefly discussed the potential hazard of lightning striking a model flier when a thunderstorm is approaching. I asked if any readers knew of an incident in which a model flier had been the victim of a lightning strike. In response I received four letters, and one (from John Shaud, West Hempstead, NY) did cite an incident that John had come close to witnessing some 30 years ago at a Control Line flying site in Forest Park, Queens, NY. However, the incident that John recalls did not occur while flying activities were taking place. He had been flying at the park when an approaching thunderstorm darkened the sky and caused him to terminate his flying activities and go home. Later that evening he heard a news broadcast that a group of CL fliers, average age about 14 years, who also had been flying in the park, had not left when the storm approached, but had taken shelter from the rain under a huge oak tree. When lightning struck the tree, three of the boys were killed, and four were severely burned.
Safety Comes First
"SAFETY COMES FIRST" appeared for the first time in the January 1980 issue of Model Aviation. So this column completes my ninth year as a contributing editor, and I've decided to reveal myself by including a photograph. My first column was typed on an old manual Olivetti portable machine. I still have that typewriter, but it's been retired to the attic. Since then I've used a Smith Corona electric followed by an IBM Selectric which, because it had a self-correct capability, I considered to be the ultimate typing machine until I gained access to a word processor. Although this latter electronic marvel does not use the same language as the computers employed by the magazine's editorial staff, with the help of a friend I recently figured out how to perform a translation that can be put onto a floppy disk and mailed to Model Aviation. The next step, if I can figure out how to do it, will be to send the column to MA via a modem. Today I wonder how I got by for so long with that old Olivetti that's now in the attic.
Safety Comes First
FATAL ACCIDENT: In the June 1988 Safety column I mentioned a safety campaign that had been launched by the Society of Model Aeronautical Engineers (SMAE), the British counterpart of AMA. This was, in part, the result of two deaths during 1987 that were caused by RC model flying activities. The first death I described in detail (collision between a Slope Soarer and a fullscale hang glider) in the February 1988 column, but, until last week, all I knew about the second incident was that it was caused by a three-pound model. Henry Farrar, editor of the Long Island Drone Society newsletter, sent me a copy of the July issue. In it was a description of the circumstances that led to this second 1987 fatality in the U.K. Henry was not sure of the source of his information, but it appears to me to have come from the British model magazine Radio Control Models & Electronics (RCM&E).
Safety Comes First
CYANOACRYLATE GLUE. This month's Safety column is a reprint of the one which appeared in the October 1985 issue of Model Aviation and was entirely devoted to the possible health hazard presented by the use of CyA glue. In the eight years that I've been writing this column, I have never previously "recycled" an entire column. The reason I'm doing it now is because of the many letters I received from modelers who asked for copies of that October '85 column when I mentioned in my January 1988 column that such were available upon request. To those of you who have been readers since before October 1985, I apologize for this repeat. However, I think the following material is sufficiently important to new AMA members (and those others who may not have seen it previously) to justify this rerun. Here we go:
