RC helicopter kills operator

[Waldo]

 Sad in so many ways. Thoughts are with the family at this time.

[Dragon Tamer]

That's sad, my thoughts are with the family.   

A few years ago at a local RC airfield, an operator was killed by his RC plane when the prop sliced his wrist. He tried to drive himself to the hospital (he was the only one at the airfield). He passed out from blood loss and died in the car crash.

They are dangerous machines just like the real things.

[eagl]

That's why I have an Israeli bandage in both of my cars and am procuring military style tourniquets, plus other stuff for a roadway trauma kit.  One is already in my wife's car, and I'll nab another one or two the next time we open up some "expired" ones during training.  Quikclot is next after that if I can find a cheap source of the quikclot gauze.  Not fond of the quikclot sponges but the gauze is very expensive.

Uncontrolled bleeding in an extremity is a very common yet often completely preventable cause of death.  A properly applied shoelace or belt and a tiny bit of training can easily make the difference between life or death.  I'm a total slacker for not having completed it yet, but my goal is to have a decent trauma kit in both of my cars that is suitable for caring for up to 4 people.  4 of everything, including compression bandages, tourniquets, quikclot, nasal pharyngeal airway tubes and surgilube, in addition the other usual first aid items like those moldable flexible splints.  I'll probably even include some of that liquid skin glue since it can be used to close up nasty glass cuts if there is any delay expected in receiving professional medical care.  I priced it out since nobody except some extreme survivalist stores sell complete kits, and I expect each kit to cost over $500 unless I can find some of the military grade stuff at a surplus sale.  Just a single quikclot gauze package is upwards of $30, and the really good battlefield tourniquets you can apply with one hand are about the same.  Quikclot sponges are a lot cheaper but I haven't seen them in use and wouldn't want to count on them without seeing them in use.

The last time I was the first to arrive at a car accident, all I had with me was a hand towel.  Luckily the crash victim was asleep and completely relaxed during the accident (she fell asleep driving and drove off the road) so her only injuries were minor but messy hand, forearm, and facial cuts from broken glass.  If it had been worse, I'd have had nothing but jumper cables, some elastic cargo tie-downs, and my clothing available for improvised first aid supplies.

[CAP1]

That's sad, my thoughts are with the family.   

A few years ago at a local RC airfield, an operator was killed by his RC plane when the prop sliced his wrist. He tried to drive himself to the hospital (he was the only one at the airfield). He passed out from blood loss and died in the car crash.

They are dangerous machines just like the real things.

 that just sent shivers, as i tend to love most the times i fly with no one else at the field.........

[bacon8tr]

Eagl, our PD just had each unit outfitted with a "buddy aid" kit.  Nothing fancy, but equipped with the quikclot gauze, direct pressure/granular pack, military tourniquet and a few other essentials.  Rather nice little kit packaged in a M.O.L.L.E pack that's about the size of a woman's purse.  They ran us under $90 each.  If interested drop me a line.  I'm away for the weekend, but will get the company info for you next week.  Not the big trauma kit your looking for, but I was told this vendor had kits of all sizes.  You might find what your looking for there, a little better priced.  

This is a tragic incident.  I've had more than a few friends over the years get their hands tore up from props.  One so severely that he required hand surgery to repair damaged ligaments in a thumb.

[eagl]

Bacon, check PM when you get back, thx!  The abundance of hiker first aid kits packed with a bazillion band-aids and tape are a pet peeve of mine, because not one of those include any of the modern trauma items that ought to be cheap, lightweight, and in every single portable first aid kit.

I've had conventional first aid from the red cross, pre-9/11 military first aid, and fairly recent advanced self aid buddy care military first aid, and there is certainly a different flavor to the different training.  But talking to an ex-seal who actually LIVED after loosening a tourniquet (gasp!) 20+ times (double gasp!) because he needed that lower arm to shoot back, pretty much resulted in me discarding an awful lot of my previous training and focusing on doing whatever it takes to save a life no matter how bad a wound or injury is. 

[homersipes]

  sad tragedy.  I have got sliced by a rc airplane prop, had a .61 on an airboat that belonged to a friend of ours.  he had ran it ashore and decided he wanted to turn it off to refuel, usually I have the radio set so I can use throttle trim to kill the engine but he didnt, so I reached up to choke it and my hand hit the muffler and I yanked my hand right through the prop.  It didnt get me bad but it could have.  I saw a 46% extra 300 go through the side of an RV at an airshow onetime.  Not sure what happened but lost control of it and it crashed into the side of the RV going all the way through the side before blowing apart inside.  If anyone was inside it would probably had killed them.  I hate when people refer to them as toys

[eagl]

I prefer gas in part because the inadvertent engine runs seem to be a lot less common.  An electric goes from zero to thumb chopping nightmare in a split second, where a gas motor that's turned off will stay turned off until you go through a lot of effort to turn it on (and sometimes even then it won't start).  A friend of mine who switched to electrics from gas told me he can't count the number of times his electric has roared to life on the workbench while turned "off" due to one or another electrical glitches.  A bad ESC, receiver glitch or low voltage receiver battery, or just a mistake wiring it up can send a motor and partially built plane roaring around your work area smashing everything it encounters until the battery pack is ripped away from the motor or the motor is ripped away from everything else.

That's one reason if I go electric it will probably be EDF...  Keep the spinny parts carefully tucked away where I can't get my fingers sliced or work area destroyed if/when they spin up unintentionally.

[homersipes]

Posted by: eagl
Insert Quote
I prefer gas in part because the inadvertent engine runs seem to be a lot less common.  An electric goes from zero to thumb chopping nightmare in a split second, where a gas motor that's turned off will stay turned off until you go through a lot of effort to turn it on (and sometimes even then it won't start).  A friend of mine who switched to electrics from gas told me he can't count the number of times his electric has roared to life on the workbench while turned "off" due to one or another electrical glitches.  A bad ESC, receiver glitch or low voltage receiver battery, or just a mistake wiring it up can send a motor and partially built plane roaring around your work area smashing everything it encounters until the battery pack is ripped away from the motor or the motor is ripped away from everything else.

soooooo very true, I have an electric p40 that almost claimed my fingers, had the plane on the ground kinda next to me and not sure what happened next thing I know it WTFO the wing tip hit my leg and spun the front around at me, got lucky I hit the spinner and not prop and I hit it into the dirt.  The radio was turned on and on my other side, throttle still closed I disconnected battery and plugged it back in and everything worked good   never had that happen before or again.
this is the one I have
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoNjJIpTzv4

[eagl]

When I was flying RC more I had a lot of basic safety rules about stuff, and I think my #1 electric RC rule will be to treat every electric as a loaded weapon when the propulsion motor battery is installed.  That will mean having a secure lockdown device in use every single time.  That may be someone holding it, or it may mean a 20 lb weight clamped to the tail, but its going to be a rule no different than the rule I had with model rockets where any time an igniter was installed in a motor, there would be a clear area in front of and behind of the rocket, and never put in an igniter before putting the motor into the rocket unless it was clamped to a test stand.

I don't think I'll go as far as some modellers who have a battery bus switch on the side of the plane, allowing the main battery to be installed and receiver powered up while disconnecting power to the motor.  A high amp switch between the ESC and motor would do the trick, but making it foolproof and reasonably attractive when mounting might be a challenge.  Still, that may be a really good safety feature, sort of like a remove before flight flag that electrically isolates the motor until right before flight.

[homersipes]

yeah after that incident I built a fork that I shove into the ground that the tail goes into, and anytime the battery is in it its held down

[CAP1]

Eagl, our PD just had each unit outfitted with a "buddy aid" kit.  Nothing fancy, but equipped with the quikclot gauze, direct pressure/granular pack, military tourniquet and a few other essentials.  Rather nice little kit packaged in a M.O.L.L.E pack that's about the size of a woman's purse.  They ran us under $90 each.  If interested drop me a line.  I'm away for the weekend, but will get the company info for you next week.  Not the big trauma kit your looking for, but I was told this vendor had kits of all sizes.  You might find what your looking for there, a little better priced.  

This is a tragic incident.  I've had more than a few friends over the years get their hands tore up from props.  One so severely that he required hand surgery to repair damaged ligaments in a thumb.

 the kit you're mentioning....is this something available to civilians?

[bacon8tr]

the kit you're mentioning....is this something available to civilians?

Yes it is CAP1.  I'll get the link up Monday, when I return to work. 

[CAP1]

Yes it is CAP1.  I'll get the link up Monday, when I return to work. 

 thannnk ya sir!

[CAP1]

hey dudes.....anything on that link for that first aid kit?