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Post by Britbrat on Aug 28, 2004 11:45:15 GMT -7
This was taken from a post on RCCANADA this afternoon
"Dear Members of the IMAA Board, I have been notified of a horrific accident that happened over the weekend in Wakeman, Ohio. A good friends of mine Casey Rowe and Brian Striker who have flown together for years encountered what we have all talked about at our board meetings for months, What if one of these 42% aircraft hit someone? Well Brian had a 42% Oracle Bi-plane as it took off he lost control of the aircraft. Casey who was over 300ft away sitting under his tent, stood up and looked at what was transpiring and before he know it, tried to leap away from the incoming 47# 80 mph 42% biplane but to no avail. He was struck in the back the carbon fiber prop cut through his back into his kidneys, severed his leg almost completely off. They called 911 and he was transported by life flight to Cleveland metro where he is in stable condition. I talked to Casey today and he wants everyone to know that his can happen to anyone. These guys are professional RC pilots and use the best equipment!! Casey is lucky to be! alive and is very shaken by the whole incident.
I wished him our best on behalf of the IMAA. I would like to work with the AMA safety committee and really look into a way to police ourselves. We and Casey are lucky no one was killed. If we do not put restrictions and more failsafe measures in effect on ourselves then I feel the FAA and other government agencies will do it for us. I feel this was our wakeup call I hope we can all work together on these issues. " Sincerely, IMAA President Tom Hayden # 5138
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Post by tperry2054 on Sept 4, 2004 14:31:56 GMT -7
As a follow up go here for a first hand account: www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Serious_accident/m_2129024/tm.htmHere is the message containing the first hand account: I would like to give you my first hand account of what happened to Casey Rowe at the Wakeman, Ohio gathering and correct some of the inaccuracies surrounding the incident. This incident took place on Saturday, August 14th about noon. Some of us got together at a friend’s house to have a picnic and fly. This is a large estate complete with lake and large, standalone workshop. Bryon Striker was flying his father’s Miles Reed Challenger II Giant Scale Biplane. This plane had flown quite a few times before. I was spotting for Bryon at the time. BTW, Bryon is a very accomplished Giant Scale 3D flyer and his father is an accomplished Giant Scale builder. Bryon took off and flew the plane uneventfully for about 4 minutes. This quote from a previous post is not an accurate statement “Well Brian had a 42% Oracle Bi-plane as it took off he lost control of the aircraft.” I then flew the plane for about two minutes. Bryon once again took over and flew the biplane for about 2 more minutes. He was making a fairly level pass (perhaps slightly descending at about 150 feet) flying north to south over the lake when I heard the throttle go to full. I assumed Bryon was preparing to enter a vertical maneuver. Bryon immediately shouted that he did not have control. I said, “You didn’t do that?” He said no, and began shouting again that he didn’t have control. At that time I looked around and everyone outside the workshop was looking up. The plane proceeded south with the engine full throttle and level. As it passed beyond and over the workshop, it began to slowly turn east and began slowly descending. As it came back over the workshop I decided to run towards the workshop since it appeared it would continue flying towards where Bryon and I were standing. I was looking up and running when I saw the plane slowly roll over and head for the ground almost right at me. As I was running I heard a “thud” and felt debris hitting the back of my legs. I stopped and turned around and saw that Bryon was all right and then noticed Casey on the ground by the tents. He had apparently exited the tent to try to locate the plane in the air. We administered First Aid, I applied a tourniquet, and the other people called 911. The plane had a JR 700 PPM receiver (not PCM) and I believe on Channel 50 from the Frequency Board. The receiver was purchased new just for the biplane. No other person had a radio with that channel. After the incident, I witnessed testing the battery pack under load and the voltage regulator, which checked out OK. Just to put things into perspective, previously the closest I had ever seen anyone being in danger of being seriously injured by a flying RC aircraft was a 40 sized trainer crashing vertically into a chair that was occupied 30 seconds before the crash and a helicopter crashing approximately 10 feet from the pilot and spotter (both incidents were when the pilots lost orientation). I just got off the phone talking to Casey and he is scheduled to return home this Wednesday. He is in good spirits and wants to thank everyone for their kind remarks. Nick _____________________________ Nick Yuhasz Amherst, Ohio Regards, Tom
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Post by GFReid on Sept 7, 2004 15:13:20 GMT -7
What about the extent of the injuries? Was the original post accurate in that respect? I'm sure I speak for all when I say our prayers and best wishes are with Casey Rowe.
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Lightning
Listener
R/C Combat flier aka.Lawn Dart king
Posts: 91
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Post by Lightning on Sept 9, 2004 20:31:31 GMT -7
Here apparently is an interview with the victim.....
Looks like we can expect some engine kill rules sometime soon, not that it's a bad idea!
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Post by Britbrat on Sept 10, 2004 8:42:48 GMT -7
Keith, do the combat planes have engine kill devices (other than each other -- and, of course, the ground)?
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Lightning
Listener
R/C Combat flier aka.Lawn Dart king
Posts: 91
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Post by Lightning on Sept 10, 2004 10:23:18 GMT -7
Pat, there are no rules requiring engine shut-off devices and even the proposal (per previous discussion) only talks about large aircraft. However there are some combat pilots who have a tether attached to the fuel line at the carb so the fuel line gets pulled in the event the wing comes off. I have not done that personally and have always managed to hit my kill switch (not the throttle lever) whenever I have lost a wing or become damaged enough to have marginal control. I may have to reconsider that! But the bigger problem is that this does nothing for radio failure. We had a minor (fortunately) incident at a meet I attended earlier this year where a plane got T-Boned and the RX was smashed. The plane began to execute a series of loops off to the side of the field. It ended up ditching about 1/4 mile away and well away from people and "stuff" Right now the only solution for a radio problem is PCM. Although all my TXs are PCM capable I'm not sure I want to go out and buy approx 15 PCM receivers. Apart from the cost, I don't think they'll fit! (I use JR610M micro RXs in my planes). And neither a tether nor PCM would not have resolved the situation I described. I will watch with interest for this inexpensive device for non-PCM radios.
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Post by Galvin on Nov 6, 2004 19:49:18 GMT -7
I have followed this present trend to building larger and larger aircraft with some skepticism and not a little trepidation. I am not a fan of these bigger and bigger "model" aircraft. I have told my friends many times that if I want to build something the size of some of these aircraft then I'll build another homebuilt and be in it myself when it leaves the ground.
To my mind there is a certain measure of irresponsibility in building something very near to the size of a full-scale airplane and then depending on the worksmanship, reflexes, and abilities of the owner/builder as well as the radio reliability of the average hobby (as opposed to the military quality sets used in controlling drones and RPVs) unit and a whole lot of luck that the whole thing won't fly away and go through someone's house.
I have resorted to the emergency dive to safety under my car or a picnic table often enough when a .40 size model loses it and runs amok to be really happy about the prospect of trying to avoid an incoming model half the size of a Cessna 152.
I am happy to hear the victim survived. But his quality of life in the future is definitely going to be an issue and I assume the IMAA insurance will be paying for it. I wonder what this accident is laible to do to our AMA insurance costs and coverage and if it will affect the future of these large models.
One of the owners of Golden West Models, the people who used to build and market the Schreckling turbine engine, is a friend of mine and is a bit of a white-knuckle pilot. He once had a little Cambrian Spitfire with a real hot .25 on it that I loved to fly whenever I got the chance. I loved it but it was really fast and was always about a quarter of a mile ahead of my friend's ability to control it.
He lost it one day, the airplane coming down vertically at high speed into the club's nearly full parking lot with a resounding "clank" signifying it had found a target. Of all the cars in the lot, his Spitfire had sought out his very own brand new red Alfa Romeo sedan and kamikazied into the trunk lid at a repair cost to the car of several thousand dollars.
Had it been the size of the airplane in the incident cited above as the basis for this thread and had it hit a little farther forward, I have little doubt it would have totalled it.
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