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
Accidentally switching off RC transmitters - maybe not so stupid after all. Children at the flying field: Pro and con. Model fuel explosion. STUPID COLUMN! An overwhelming number of letters I've received from readers in which the writer saw fit to comment on the content of this column have been ~ complimentary. However, once in a while I seem to rub someone the wrong way, and then a letter with derogatory comments arrives in my mailbox. Such a letter arrived last month in response to the January Safety column, which, among other topics, discussed transmitter power switches being inadvertently turned off during flight. The letter from Morresville, PA modeler Joe McCamley had the following comments:
Safety Comes First
Hazards in painting; accelerators for CyA glues; electrical hazards. Some bugs have legs! What about renegade RC fliers? HAZARDS of painting: Jim Moynihan of Williamsville, NY is a pilot of both full-scale and model airplanes. Jim sent me a page from the May 1990 issue of the EAA Experimenter magazine which reported the death of a full-scale pilot due to breathing the fumes from the paint he was using. The paint was DuPont Imron, a multicomponent polyurethane paint containing polyisocyanates, which some modelers use to achieve "that perfect finish." The account of the death in EAA Experimenter is as follows: "If you've been following Dick Cavin's 'Tin Bender' column the past few months, you're aware that he's been discussing painting metal aircraft, and that he recently included a caution about the dangers of working with paints, etc. "Unfortunately, the aerobatic community has recently suffered a real-life reminder of how dangerous paint chemicals can be. Scott Finnigan, the chief aerobatics instructor for American Winds (an aerobatics school in Vero Beach, FL), died from complications of inhaling paint fumes. Finnigan was apparently working in a small paint booth, largely unventilated, and without protective breathing equipment, using Imron. This paint is quite lethal, and the fumes apparently attacked his lungs causing incurable damage, resulting in his death.
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
BAARRROOM! That's what it must have sounded like when a Sailplane winch battery exploded recently. I think most of us are well aware of the possibility of an explosion when attempting to jump start a dead car battery. However, until last month when I opened a letter from Gene Pastori, I had never heard of a car battery exploding while it was being used to power a Sailplane winch. Gene's letter contained the following account of the incident: "I would like to tell you of an accident we had at our club field. We were holding our December Sailplane contest when the winch battery blew up. Acid flew all over the place, and the battery just flew apart, sending shrapnel all over the field and acid all over us. It was a good thing that we all wore glasses so no acid got in our eyes. However, I do have a ruptured eardrum as a result of the loud noise of the explosion.
