Martin,
You are way out of line here. I know you don't represent the
sentiment and perception of the vast majority of the folks on this
list. It seems you aren't even a pilot since you didn't talk about
the airspace regs and minimum elevation above ground in congested
areas. Noisy polluting things you say. Give me a break. By the way
when was the last time an airport was built next to an existing
community? Usually, if not every time it is the development of
property around existing airports and runways that expose the
populous to the "noise and pollution". They move close to an airport
and then complain. If I had my way I would live in an airport
community, music to my ears, and fun to watch, and great people to be
associated with.
As for Daryl overreacting....I am probably the one guy on this list
who has the most time in the right seat with Daryl as Pilot in
Command. Let me tell you this. I am a very critical flyer. I have
been around general aviation for my entire life. My father was a
pilot in Alaska, and we always had a small plane. My uncles, and
cousins are currently flying both on the private side and the
commercial side in Alaska and my uncle owns a charter service called
Kenai Aviation. With all of this experience behind me I say that I
feel as comfortable with Daryl as I do with my family in a small
plane. Daryl knows this since I have told him the same thing. Daryl
did not in my opinion OVER react. He did react, and I am glad he
did. It is our responsibility as Larry Jolly mentions, to preserve
our right to fly model airplanes, and Daryl brought the issue
directly to the correct forum.
So, if you were just sitting back just throwing out fodder for the
list to read and respond to, congratulations you hit the nerve. Not
a real difficult one to identify though.
Please fly safe and be a responsible RC pilot. A nonchalant attitude
like yours could be very detrimental to our little hobby.
Sincerely,
Mike Smith
At 08:56 PM 10/10/2005, you wrote:
>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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