Flying season is in full swing and several safety problems are cropping up, some are caused by our own fellow pilots, some are of a more technical nature.

My good buddy Bob Benjamin, the fellow who paints those wonderful covers for Model Builder Magazine, had his "Bobcat" monoplane chopped up badly by another modeler, which was a real shame because Bob builds as well as he paints.

The fellow who clobbered Bob's plane had refused help when he went to crank up the Quadra powered plane. After start up he laid down his transmitter and started to walk around his plane. His pant cuff caught on the throttle lever of the transmitter, causing the engine to go to full power. The plane proceeded to chop up Bob's plane and only came to rest after taking a chunk out of Bob's tool box.

Fellows you just must not fly or runup a big bird by yourself! Most chapters that are on the ball - safety wise - require a helper/spotter to prevent just such accidents and to assist the pilot while he is in the air by giving him timely warnings, such as, there is a dead stick landing coming in on your right, or, a real aircraft is approaching from the left.

If this fellow had started up thirty seconds earlier, Bob would have stopped the Quadra with his back. This was an absolutely preventable accident and I hope the group that put on the Fly-In in question will review their safety requirements; they need up grading pretty badly.

Engine start up should be done in a special area other than the pits. The helper should maintain control of the plane to the edge of the runway, then the plane may be taxied to the take-off position.

Avoid tunnel vision, whether taxiing or flying. Naturally you can't take your eyes off your plane, but you can train yourself to use your peripheral vision. This allows you to not necessarily see every thing around you, but makes you aware of objects in your vicinity. If you learn to use your peripheral vision, you'll find you won't be flying into that row of plane-eating trees common to most flying sites. Nor will you taxi into another pilot's plane. You may even avoid a mid-air collision.

One way to help avoid such accidents as those described is to never be in a rush. If you are rushing to get in the air, that's a quick way to disaster. The sky isn't going away, and believe me you'll feel pretty low-down if you wreck your plane and someone else's, when a little more care would have prevented the accident.

Let's all take time to consider those around us. We can show off our flying skills and plane much better in a relaxed but careful way. You'll look like "Joe Cool" and earn the respect of those around you.

I was with a group putting on a demonstration at a local air base. One fellow was in a big hurry to get his plane in the air. Just about the time he started to lift off, his plane veered towards the crowd. My good buddy Jerry McClean, who has a wooden leg, was between the crowd and the errant plane. Jerry stopped the plane by sticking his wooden leg in the prop. As amusing as this sounds, Jerry's quick thinking saved us all an ugly incident.

How do you fellows feel when you go out to fly, and some one on your frequency hasn't prepared his plane for flight back at the hanger? There you sit while this fellow tinkers and ties up the frequency. It seems to me the best place to check out that troublesome plane is at home, where you may leisurely and safely prepare your plane for flying. After all, we do say were going to the flying field, not the maintenance field.

I personally try very hard to have my plane tuned and ready for flight when I arrive at the field. And if things really start to go sour, I put the plane in the truck and look for something else to do, because when things go wrong they seem to compound.

Last July 4th, 1987, at the urging of some fellow flyers, I spent four hours trying to get my engine to run. Looking back on the situation, I'm glad the engine never ran, because I was so frustrated that I wouldn't have been flying the plane very well anyway.

Now that's not to say minor problems can't be taken care of. But if your flying session is rapidly turning into a "Beaver Colony", "One damn thing after another", shut it down for the day. Do something else, such as assist that new fellow that has shown up at the field. You'll feel better and will enjoy flying more the next time your plane is ready to go. (Excerpted)