>And who the bleep are YOU, mystery model flyer, to expose other people
to risk against their will and knowledge? (MSul1048321)
While I can't condone anyone flying near full sized planes I think
you're overreacting. There are such things are birds up there, lots of
them, and they're going to do a lot more damage to a plane than a foam
wing (which, due to its design, is not going to do much damange to
anything that it hits). A bird will damage a plane but you don't see
many reports on the NTSB database of accidents resulting from a bird
strike. I don't think theres a single report of an accident or incident
caused by a model (ecept for some moron versus a blimp a few years ago,
but that was deliberate).
I've never been in a position to put this to the test -- and I really
don't want to ever get into this position -- but I think that if a model
got close to an airplane then the wash -- the air displaced by the plane
-- would push it to one side so the collision would be at worst
glancing. It a propellor hit it then there would be no model --
propellors are quite tough things -- and I suspect that a small model
going into a large jet engine would disappear without trace (they test
for this sort of thing -- you can't have a plane exploding and falling
out of the sky because an engine ingested some debris). So like the
rabbit crossing the road, the biggest danger the GA pilot would have
would be trying to swerve around the model and losing it.....but then
you're really not supposed to try doing that in a plane.
While we're in rant mode I should remark that some GA pilots tend to
bend the rules -- they fly too close to the ground in built-up areas,
nice view but they're getting in the way of our models (not to mention
that their planes are noisy, dirty, polluting things -- old school
unsilenced engines with no emissions control and leaded fuel --gross,
like ancient lawnmowers they creak across the sky making a darned
nuisance of themselves). Yes, I know they cost you a lot of money to buy
and fly and they do appear to be inherently dangerous but if you can't
get into an out of airfields without bothering the neighbors then maybe
its time to drive (after all, most accidents seem to be caused by pilots
trying to fly slightly beyond their skill levels -- in this case it
seems that the skill level needed for this approach was right on the
edge for this pilot if he's going to get fazed by a chunk of packing
foam. You can't be too careful with aircraft -- sometimes its more fun
to sit on the ground and fly the thing by proxy. (Cheaper, too)
Martin Usher
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