Hospitalised, my own fault - but ?

[Colin Leighfield]

Jo, thank you, not sure I qualify as any kind of an expert, clot more like it. Best regards to Ella.

I’m pleased to hear that Peter also remembers “Prop Secret”. It is a huge relief to know it wasn’t a hallucination.

[Shaun Walsh]

The comment about modern electric props having sharper edges than the ic props of yore is spot on.

Yesterday evening I managed to cut a finger on one as I was rummaging around in my flight bag looking for some tape. At first I thought I had left a craft knife open in the bag, but it was just a spare prop. Must remember to get some emery paper on it.

[Nigel R]

ouch!

Generally speaking I only really like underhand launches of tractor props, on electric models.

That push-me-pull-you delta looks utterly lethal.

[Colin Leighfield]

I had another look at the Buffalo and my hand is simply not big enough to grasp the fuselage behind the wing. The only way to hold it under-arm is at a position just behind the engine cowling, even that is a bit big for me. Further back isn’t practical because the whole length to the end of the long canopy is detachable and held in place by magnets.

As mentioned before there are videos on line showing this being launched single-handed by pilots with the transmitter in one hand, but they are clearly bigger and more physically capable than me. It looks as if the solution for me will be to hold it at the grip points but with my left hand, and use my right to hold the end of the fuselage just under or behind the tail. I will give it a forward push and simultaneously call James to open it up. That should do it and eliminate the risk of repeating the incident.

[Colin Carpenter]

Sympathies Colin ! That's a huge bandage. ! Saw something similar few years ago and he lacerated his wrist too ! Amazingly , that's the only time SWMBO has been at the patch , and having been the top St John's cadet centuries ago !! she took control and bandaged him up and drove to A and E !! Then , last year I had to do similar to chap who put his fingers through four stroke prop ! He's got bent finger now !!! Touch wood I've been ok last 50 years ! Colin

[Nigel R]

What about a hook and bungee?

Doesn't need to be much of a bungee if the thing has that much power.

[fly boy3]

My condolences, terrible out come. Wonder why exessive torque caused front to drop, or was it possible that the hand hold was behind the GoG, and model was out of balance therefore just dropped the front ? Cheers

[Colin Leighfield]

Keep it up Colin!

Nigel, if I was going to use a launch device I would make a bogie, which I have used before. However, I don’t think I need to do that, just get my brain into gear.

fly boy 3, it wasn’t excessive torque, it was simply being caught out by the leverage of instant high thrust at some height above the pivot point created by my fingers in the circular recesses, causing the plane to rotate forward and downward around that point. Because it was completely unexpected and lightning quick, it caught me out. I can’t exclude idiocy as being a key factor.

[Denis Watkins]

Have lost count Colin, like many of us who have lobbed similar models

Many thanks for the honest " heads up " as a reminder to us

[McG 6969]

Hi Colin,

Just been looking at your post this very moment.

First of all, get well soon...

... but this could indeed be a safety reminder for a lot of forumites.

Cheers

Chris

[Simon Chaddock]

Colin
Sorry to read of your accident.

A little tip for hand launch aficionados - glue 60 grit wet and dry sand paper on the faces of the grips!

Works a treat and is rather essential for Depron lightweights as you cant grip it that hard in the first place.

The grips on the rather portly fuselage of my V-1 and its EDF is high up above the fuselage.

Index finger in the hole, thumb and little finger (just reaches!) on the 'wet and dry' patches.

[Alan Hilton]

I can’t handlaunch due to arthritis in my knuckles ,my flying buddy has several models requiring hand launch ,so he bought a Hobbyking catapult . It’s a bit of a faf to set up but it works very well even with edf models

Alan

[Richard Acland]

I must admit that is a bit of a shocker. As time goes on and I get older I am particularly careful of that big whirly thing at the front of my model. We had an incident at our club field a while back where an electric powered glider bit someone on the arm and it was not a pretty sight, fortunately a couple of members had first aid kits in their cars and we managed a reasonable patch up job. A basic first aid kit might be a good idea to have on the flightline in case something like this should happen.

[Bruce Collinson]

Echoing Ken Anderson’s sage advice on location, check out the app called. What3words. Even I can use it. Location specific to 3sq m grid across the UK and allegedly built for the emergency services. Also useful for new visitors and slightly remote rural sites .. is there any other sort?

BTC

[Stephen Jones]

Hi Colin,

Sorry to hear about your accident Hope all heals well soon for you.

I guess it would not of been as bad or may not of happened at all if you had control of the transmitter as you would of felt the pull of the motor and backed off the power.

Not that your over keen pilot was to blame but with no feed back from the controls how was he to know how much power was needed. I bet he is as sick as a dog knowing he was at the controls.

I always perform my own hand launch as i will hold the model up right and set the power until i feel the motor is holding the weight of the model. That way i know it is a safe power setting for the model.

Get well soon.

[Shaun Walsh]

If you have superglue in your field kit don't forget that it was originally used to close wounds in the Vietnam war. I suffered a kitchen cabinet door related injury to my head which bled profusely until my daughters partner, who is a cave rescue medic, glued it together 😜

Edited By Shaun Walsh on 08/08/2019 21:05:08

Edited By Shaun Walsh on 08/08/2019 21:05:58

Edited By Shaun Walsh on 08/08/2019 21:06:31

[Peter Miller]

We have a big first aid kit in the box on our field. I also keep one in the car with tubegauze bandage for fingers, That has been used several times over the years.

[i12fly]

Wishing you a speedy recovery Colin. I'd never have thought of that happening so thanks for the heads up.

I used to have a delta pusher and held the wing and gently flung it like a DLG with just enough throttle to almost sustain flight (it gave me more time to find the controls before it reached the ground). Is this any use on your model?

Clearly with a high throttle the same problem could occur......

[Colin Leighfield]

Thanks for all that chaps, the pilot wasn’t to blame for this. We have hand-launched loads of planes and simply got caught out by something unexpected. I’ve looked carefully at the Buffalo again and note also that it has significant downthrust. It is easy to see how this combined with a surprising amount of thrust and the position of the holding points provides the recipe for it to rotate forward and downwards in the hand.

I’m afraid superglue wouldn’t have helped the wound here here because this wasn’t a cut, it was a hole and you could see everything moving inside and blood was streaming out. Even one of the nurses in the hospital went queasy.

There is no way that this plane is going to be launched single-handed, I wouldn’t do that with the tx in one hand because it is awkward to hold and I couldn’t chuck it high enough or straight enough to get my thumb on the throttle before it hit the deck. Much larger and stronger hands might be ok but you are what you are. The safe way to launch this will be to use two hands in future and that is what I will do. Clearly there are those who are flying this plane and not running into trouble, but the risk is there and those of us who are a bit restricted in this area, as from the posts so far some clearly are, could experience it.

It is only an accident when it happens to you and when it does, your perspective is different. I felt a duty to share this and everyone must make of it what they will, but please don’t let anyone under-estimate the risk. Sometimes the unexpected is life-changing and it is too late then. Don’t get caught out.

[Stephen Jones]

Well Noted Colin,

That is why these are not Toy planes.

Take care .

[Old Geezer]

Having recently returned from the dark side I was unaware how sharp the trailing edge of a current APC i/c prop' can be as compared with the old nylon and g/f items knocking about the garage in boxes since ( possibly ) the last century when I was diverted from True Path of methanol and castor power. I found out the hard way bench testing a .46 - just flicking the prop' with an unprotected index finger - my finger ran along the trailing edge of the prop' as it came up against the resistance of the piston approaching the top of it's stroke - and I acquired yet another hobby related scar! Happily no stitches needed, but it took some days to heal. Another lesson learned and two quid spent at the LMS for an ugly black finger guard, I'll never try flicking an engine over again without one.

Could have been worse - years ago I caught the outside of my left hand and little finger on the tips of a prop' attached to an OS 25FSR turning at full chat - fine scars still just visible - lucky to keep the finger but got the use back in it in a few weeks - but lost all sensation in it for the best part of a year.

Still - it adds a further frisson of excitement to our hobby. 

Edited By Old Geezer on 09/08/2019 10:22:54

Edited By Old Geezer on 09/08/2019 10:24:33

[Kim Taylor]

Colin, that injury looks a shocker. I did something similar myself years ago, but not as severe as that!

Still got the scar though.

My reason for posting was just to advise you not to hurry back on to the motorbike - of course you know how much pressure you put on your forearms when riding, but it's easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment and have everything open up again - been there and got the T shirt.

Get well soon

Kim

[Nigel R]

"sharp the trailing edge of a current APC i/c prop' can be as compared with the old nylon and g/f"

I still use a number of the Graupner Super props, though they're getting quite hard to find now.

Probably less efficient than APC, but also significantly less efficient at cutting things.

[Colin Leighfield]

To be honest chaps in this case I am sure that even a blunter prop would have done significant damage. This was more of a tearing than just a cutting injury and took out a significant piece of flesh, which is why it left a hole. Not sure that I would describe the lingering memory as adding a “frisson” of excitement, not having experimented with sado-masochism yet. (!)

Kim, I think I will be ok on the bike. I have started working with the elastic training band and the muscle hasn’t come undone yet. I will leave the weights for a few more days though. Another two weeks should do the trick before I go. Although I have toured France by motorbike and car frequently since 1975, this time the first part of the journey is reliving my original route on a Norton Commando 850 in 1975 that I haven't done since, so I will do it one-armed if I have to.

[SIMON CRAGG]

Firstly, I hope you make a full recovery from this awful accident.

If anything good has come of this, it has made us all (even more) aware.

It was the talking point at out club meeting last night.

To that end, we are going to arrange a presentation on what to do if similar happens at our club site, and purchase a really good first aid kit, and probably have it on the flightline somewhere.

I think as electric is becoming more popular, we are going to see events like this more often.

Anyway, thanks for sharing and speedy recovery!.