President’s Perspective - 2004/12
Dave Brown — AMA president
Vacation is over
Vacation is over and I ought to get back to writing! The idea of having one month without officers' columns in MA is great, but eventually you need to pay the piper. Two months have flown by since I wrote my last column, and it seems like an eternity since some of these events took place.
NAA leadership change
The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) search committee found a replacement for Don Koranda, who had announced his resignation as president in April. Don has served on the AMA Executive Council (EC), and his wisdom has been an asset.
I served on NAA's search committee, and the organization is pleased to announce that David Ivey will assume the position of president. David comes to NAA with a wealth of experience in association management, and I expect that he will serve as the designated NAA representative on the AMA EC.
John A. Oganowski Model Flying Field dedication
On September 11, 2004, the third anniversary of the airborne attacks on our country, I had the pleasure of attending the dedication of the John A. Oganowski Model Flying Field in Massachusetts. Home of the 495th R/C Squadron, this beautiful facility has been dedicated to the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 which hit the World Trade Center on that fateful day three years ago.
Captain Oganowski was a local aviator whose work in conservation made this dedication very fitting because this site is part of the conservation plans for the area. Meeting his family and being a part of this dedication gave new meaning to me regarding the events of September 11. I was proud to participate in the ceremony.
The dedication was attended by a number of dignitaries from the area, and most stayed for the picnic and flying. This is a beautiful facility and this club is among the more vibrant I have had the pleasure of visiting. The members have a real sparkplug in their president, Ron Quattrochi, who presided over the ceremony. They are a great bunch of people.
The occasion brought to mind the thought that dedicating a flying field to a local hero may be a good move for a club, and it could be an important element in retaining that flying site. Politically, it would be much more difficult to shut down a facility that was named after someone important. A formal dedication in a ceremony involving the political powers in the area is something a number of clubs might consider.
Triple Tree Aerodrome and the Don Lowe Masters
On the subject of beautiful flying facilities, I was a judge for the Don Lowe Masters at Triple Tree Aerodrome in Greenville, South Carolina. If you have never seen this facility, then you are missing what might be the most beautiful model-airplane flying site in the world. Pat Hartness has created a model-airplane heaven, and it's a mecca for R/C modelers. In addition to the Don Lowe Masters, this site hosts the Joe Nall Giant Scale Fly-In that is becoming the largest model-airplane event in the world. Every modeler should make at least one sabbatical to this site in his or her lifetime. Thanks to Pat and the whole gang for the invitation to attend this event. It was excellent.
Fail-safe systems and safety
The two-month period was not all good. We experienced a serious accident involving a Giant Scale model in Ohio. It was a case where a model failed to respond to the pilot, flew off, and hit someone. It is unknown if the model involved was equipped with a fail-safe device or whether one would have prevented the accident. The accident has resulted in much discussion concerning the use of a fail-safe system. Such a mechanism can be set to retard the throttle upon any loss of control. This is appropriate in most—but not all—cases. The cases in which such a device might not be suitable make the idea complex.
One of the suggestions I've heard is to mandate that all models have a fail-safe which would shut down the engine. While this might sound logical—and it is most of the time—there are times when this would be the inappropriate action (in helicopters, for example). I suggest that we need more modelers to understand how fail-safe technology works, and to ensure that they have set their fail-safes to a known condition. Roughly 90% of the time this will include low throttle—if not complete engine shutoff—but my guess is that many modelers are unaware of how their fail-safe is set, or even if their R/C system has such a device.
Do yourself a favor and learn as much as you can to understand any such system your radio employs and set it appropriately. I expect that in the future, some events will require that your model be equipped with a fail-safe system, and that it be set to cut the engine at least to low throttle. The International Miniature Aircraft Association is considering such a rule, and I was told that something similar would be implemented for the Joe Nall Giant Scale Fly-In.
Will AMA institute such a rule? I don't know, but I would favor an approach based upon requiring that a modeler prove that he has set his fail-safe in a manner which he has decided is best for the particular type of model and the site where he is flying. I believe this is more of an education problem than one to be solved through rules.
Propeller injuries and a surprising theory
I continue to be appalled by the number of "body-parts-into-propeller" incidents that are reported. A careful study of those incidents has made me realize that a significant number are not occurring when the model is being started but well after the engine is running. While some are the result of reaching through the propeller to remove the spinner or bolt, many seem to occur when the model is being moved with the needle valve, etc., being checked. Running the motor by hand is still the major cause of engine injuries.
One idea I heard to explain the increase in such injuries nearly knocked me off my feet. One "old-timer" said that starters were part of the problem.
What did he say? Yes, he said starters. The theory was that in the old days when engines were started almost exclusively by "flipping" the propeller, we were constantly reminded of the danger and learned to be careful. That occasional reminder—sometimes in the form of a cut finger—kept us cautious. Today, the use of starters has eliminated that reminder, and the loss of those reminders results in more full-throttle incidents.
Sure is an interesting theory ...
Closing
Back next month. MA
Dave Brown AMA president dbrown@dbproducts.com
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
