Lakeland R-C Club

Oconomowoc, WI
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Some Common Sense - or maybe not so common - Airplane Safety Guidelines/Tips
  • Get familiar with your radio gear and airplane set-ups before arriving at the field.  This means reading (not just looking at the pictures) your transmitter manual, and having the airplane programmed and set before it leaves the bench - at home

 

  • BEFORE turning on your transmitter at the (any) field, get the channel pin to ensure you don't "shoot down" someone else's plane

 

  • When starting or setting-up your airplane, tie it down - this goes for glow AND electric planes.   The brushless outrunner motors have the same hazzards as a glow engine and can start back up with the movement of your throttle stick. 

 

  • Keep yourself and others out of the prop arc

 

  • Do not wear loose fitting clothing when starting an engine/motor - if it's cold out make sure your outer wear is buttoned/zipped/tied to prevent it - and you - from being sucked into the spinning prop

 

  • Perform engine adjustments from behind the prop

 

  • Perform a range check of your plane
    • Let others in the area know what you are going to do
    • With the antennae collapsed and your plane's receiver on, walk away ~75ft away from the plane and make sure you have control. 
    • Start the plane, or for an electric idle the motor, and perform the check again.
  •   Have someone next to you on a maiden to help with trim adjustments - if your plane is fairly "out" you will have enough to do just keeping the plane in the air

 

  • Before you install that new prop, please, please, please, BALANCE it before you install it
  •  Inspect your airplane before you fly
    • Ensure your prop is not damaged

 

    • Verify your controls are working and in the correct direction

 

    • Perform a simple "tug test" on your control surfaces to make sure they aren't going to depart from your plane in-flight

 

    • Check your transmitter battery voltage
    • If possible check your receiver battery voltage, there are a number of gizmos out there that allow you to do this without having to disconnect your battery
    • Do a sanity check on your servos, are any of the screws loose, control connections loose or wiring or other parts of the plane in danger of interfering with the required motion of the servos or other gear
    • Is the CG correct?
    • Is your hardware for the wing/landing gear correct and secured? 

 

    • Once you have your plane started, verify that you can shut the engine off from the transmitter, this is a good time to make the fuel tank really is full

 

    • Perform a pre-flight checklist before taxiing out onto the field, just to be sure of the controls working in the correct directions and that you have control of the throttle by "blipping" the throttle slightly and seeing, or hearing, that it not only raises the rpm, but also comes back to idle