Re: [RCSE] Safety rules - do you have them?

[Thomas Koszuta]

I was part of our club safety commitee once upon a time and took it upon 
myself to help with the rules.  I used to write operating specs as a process 
engineer and thought that if I could do that a safe flying document would be 
easy.  My first reviewer said I was way too wordy and noone would ever 
finish reading it.  That discouraged me enough to read it a few more times 
and eventually abandon my new stuff.  We went to the old stuff saying range 
check, check that you have the right program for the model, no low passes 
over the pits, etc.

I have to admit that I am fairly safety conscious, maybe even slightly 
paranoid about how lax saiplane pilots can be.  The fact that we don't have 
a runway with a fence in front of us seems to encourage stand where you want 
and go get your plane where ever it lands and don't shout out when landing 
or launching.  I really hate when guys flying the electrics (or the slopers, 
when we are there) stand up in front of their chair, turn on the prop and 
throw it without any word, or worse, from just behind your field of vision. 
It is also hard to establish an area for this or that when your field layout 
effectively changes with wind direction.  We fly on a small field (a West 
wind makes the grass part of the field too small for a full sized histart) 
and it is hard to get any real separation of areas.  I'm curious as to how 
you your flying stations work out when the wind is straight alonn thier 
line.

I don't know if having Da Rules will lead to legal problems any more than 
not having them in place, but I do know that, in general, people will not 
follow safety procedures with anything if it is too inconvenient.  I've seen 
it in garages, flying fields and a chemical plant.  Few people will be 
safety conscious without having been personally affected by not following 
them.  Smoking is everyday proof that knowing the dangers does not 
necessarily affect behavior.

I think the big thing is enforcement.  Maybe your club has the rules better 
netrenched but i have found that too many people do not want to have the 
safety hat on for fear of offending someone with their actions.  It is hard 
to be the cop when the other flyers are your friends of many years. 
Enforcement is probably the real topic here,  not what is written on a piece 
of paper.  Who is going to be the guy that says your grounded for a week for 
violating our Safety Code item 1.3.a?  And who is going to pack up and leave 
for a week if he did?  How do you get him to do it if he refuses?  This is a 
little extreme in example, but I think the point is the same whether its a 
big offense or the same nuisance offense over and over.


Tom Koszuta
Western New York Sailplane and Electric Flyers
Buffalo, NY
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Brombaugh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <soaring@airage.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 11:53 AM
Subject: RE: [RCSE] Safety rules - do you have them?

I was surprised that this didnât start a bigger discussion yesterday. 
Safety is something that all of us should keep in the forefront of our minds 
as we go to the field, even though itâs probably not something we like to 
discuss.  Itâs similar to getting a will â we all know how important it is, 
but itâs certainly not a fun/happy topic to discuss.

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