R/C Airshow deaths

[Hagar]

What I'd like to know is why he was flying over the crowd in the first place? The two dead were hit square in the head by this oversized toy...

It's difficult to judge without knowing the full circumstances. If this was the World champion performing at a public display I doubt very much that he would fly over the crowd deliberately. However safety concious you are there is always the chance that the radio signal will be lost or subject to interference. If this happened the pilot would have no control of the model at all. This has happened to me & I'm sure most modellers but we were lucky to get away with it.

PS. I would expect this type of model to have a fail-safe feature where if the radio signal is lost for any reason the throttle is automatically closed & the model put into a gentle circular glide. This does not always work as intended & would depend on the attitude of the model when the signal was lost.

[town]

I with Hagar. It's extremely sad when anything like this happens  :-/ but when you are radio controlling something you are subject to the vagueries of the ether. I have lost aircraft because someone has switched a transmitter on with my frequency. We have also had strange goings on with mobile phones and such in proximity to our flying site.

[Fozzer]

Blimey... ...!

It looks as though you need to have some very expensive 3rd. party Insurance cover...
...a bit like owning a Rottweiler dog...!

LOL...!

Paul...insured my trees in case they blow down and destroy my next-door neighbours fence in a string wind......!
LOL...!

[expat]

Blimey... ...!

It looks as though you need to have some very expensive 3rd. party Insurance cover...
...a bit like owning a Rottweiler dog...!

LOL...!

Paul...insured my trees in case they blow down and destroy my next-door neighbours fence in a string wind......!
LOL...!

The guy was German, so he will have insurance. Either he will be covered by his club or by private third party insurance, not that it is much help to the victims.

Matt (living in Germany and badly flying a very insured radio controlled helicopter)

[beaky]

That's terrible. They might have not realized it was a runaway, expecting it to veer off....

I wonder how difficult it would be to rig a giant-scale model so that in the event the radio link is lost, the engine shuts off?

[expat]

That's terrible. They might have not realized it was a runaway, expecting it to veer off....

I wonder how difficult it would be to rig a giant-scale model so that in the event the radio link is lost, the engine shuts off?

I do believe, that one a model hits a set weight, certain safety measures have to be installed, but I do not know what.

Matt

[Hagar]

I wonder how difficult it would be to rig a giant-scale model so that in the event the radio link is lost, the engine shuts off?

Not difficult at all. A fail-safe engine cut-off is part of the UK large model requirements. I imagine this is much the same all over the world. Display requirements will be even stricter. [quote]MODELS BETWEEN 7 kg AND 20 kg

(a) Any model aircraft (power fixed-wing, glider or helicopter) weighing between 7 kg and 20 kg without fuel are subject to regulation by the Air Navigation Order over and above Articles 55 and 56. Full details are included in the section Legal Controls over Model Flying.

Pilots of models between 7 and 20 kg should take great care to comply with these regulations as their wilful or negligent breaking could result in their flights being illegal under the terms of the ANO and they may be liable to criminal prosecution.

(f) Pay particular attention to the state of the battery and the switch harness. Ensure that the batteries in both the model and the transmitter have adequate capacity for the flight to be undertaken and are fully charged for each flying session. Don

[beaky]

Yes, I guess even in a power-off glide a model like that could kill you... I wonder if they were taken by surprise or something. It seems easy enough to get out of the way of a plane that small, but who knows?
I'm thinking of going to the big model show at ORA this summer; I'll have to remember this.

[Hagar]

I've finally found some details on this terrible accident. The aircraft is described as a 1/2 scale Pitts Special owned & flown by Stefan Wurm who displays at shows all over Europe.

I found this photo of Stefan with his Pitts Special 'Oracle' which I assume is the one we're discussing.


PS. Found another one.

[Ecko]

That thing is HUGE!!

[beaky]

Yeah, it's plenty big enough to hurt somebody.
Wurm is obviously very skilled: that "Harrier Pass" maneuver is not easy, even with lots of extra power. I pity that hapless couple, but I feel sorry for him, too- it probably wasn't his fault.

[Jon H]

An average 3 foot span model traveling at 60mph has the same ammount of kenetic energy as a rifle bullet fired in anger.

It's not suprising what something this big can do.