As
the first waves of the summer heat and humidity pour over us, I find it's time
again for our next safety letter.
I'd like to start by saying that I've noticed a much improved safety
awareness by many of the club members. People have come up to me and offered
suggestions, comments, and stories, that they feel I should share with
everyone. Keep up the good work. The more safety aware we become, the easier
you will find that it becomes part of your everyday routine.
Yet, accidents do and can happen to anyone. One recent event occured as
an airplane was taxing back to the flight line after a succesfull flight. While
the engine was still running, the pilot wanted to make a trim switch
adjustment. He accidentally hit the power switch, instead of a trim switch. The
now uncontrolled airplane went to full power, and ran into our sand pile. The
result was a broken prop and one shaken pilot. Luckily no one was hurt.
Recently we had a visiting pilot that stated he had a little experiance
and wanted to fly at our field. Permission granted, he took to the skies with a
large beautiful airplane. On his second
flight, as the sunangle and winds changed, he lost perspective and crashed his
airplane. The crash happened on the ball field near to our driveway. If that
crash had happened while ball games were in progress, I have no doubt that our field would be
closed. Everyone there is partly to blame. Including yours truely. It would have only taken one of us to be a
spotter for him. Anyone could have/should have helped him out. Again luckily,
no one was hurt. But will this pilot ever return to our field? Hmmm....Let me guess.
The most important lesson from this, **We must fly within our tree line,
and maintain boundaries.**
Please for your safety and the safety of others, always do a preflight
check. Just as a pilot of a full size aircraft have a checklist to go thru, we
too should do our safety checks.
Correct Center of Gravity, or CG for short (The balance point of and
airplane) should be top priority of your checks. An aircraft with a CG to far
forward or to far aft, will make the plane uncontrolable at worst, or at least
very unstable.
Checking CG should be done before fueling for nitro/gas airplanes. For
electrics planes CG is checked with the battery installed.
Check flight controls for proper direction and freedom of movement. For
new airplanes I check twice, sometimes 3 times. A radio range check is never a
bad idea.
When starting a plane at the flight stations, after the engine is
started, always step behind the airplane when running up to full power. I see
too many folks, even experinced pilots, standing in front of thier airplanes
while running up. Never stand in line with a prop during full speed engine
checks. If a prop, or even a spinner, fails at high speed, the result can be
major damage or injury.
Hope these ideas and suggestions become part of your "Check
List"
Blue Skies and Happy Landings Larry Przyborowski
Keep up the good work Larry
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