Dangerous Hobby

Got your attention? This isn't about rocketry.

Recently, an instructor of a student flying a radio-controlled helicopter was killed when the rotor plades struck him in the neck when control was lost of the RC helicopter. His jugular vein was severed and he bled to death. This happened in a designated flying area in a park in Texas.

And yet everyone wants to regulate HPR out of existence because it is "dangerous."

Perception is everything. Facts count for nothing.

Reply to
Ed
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Oops...meant blades.

Reply to
Ed

Welcome to election 2004! You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Randy

Reply to
Randy

As far as I know and have been told Rocketry is the SAFEST outdoor sport/hobby known to man. Every year someone runs a plane into his head or chest and dies but so far..... (can't bring myself to say the rest but you know it is true). Even football (both sides of the Atlantic), baseball and golf are statistically far more dangerous activities. Barry

Reply to
<locprecision

.......and the big killer hobby! Bicycle riding. :-)

Reply to
Chuck Rudy

So bicycle riders kill more people (that don't sound right) than...

Alan

Reply to
Alan Jones

Let's see.....safe as in accidents......I'll look up the numbers if you really want but how many people are hurt/ killed by simply riding their bicycle on the street? I fail to see how you take how safe a hobby is, and turn it into how many people are killed outside a hobby. How many spectators are killed by football players during a game? None. How many football players die each year in support of their hobby? About a dozen.

I'll take it and make it easy. Bicycle riders FILL emergency rooms.......they rarely run into people.....see the difference? Here's a list

Baseball players hit batters they are injured.......spectators watch games and get hurt if they can't catch foul balls Auto racers are killed in pursuit of their passion.......spectators (except for very rare instances) watch them kill themselves LaCrosse players are, at times, parlyzed by hits from behind........people watching are not, they watch Soccer goalies are at times killed from ferocious contact( I have video of this one, makes you sick).....people watching are hurt when the rail collapses, not from the soccer ball

If those spectating are hurt/killed the hobby will not last long.......auto racing endures because they kill themselves, not other people........I really hope you can see the difference...........which hobby fills the emergency room more? My guess, bicycle peoples.

Reply to
Chuck Rudy

Football for example: How many you want to die each year: 0 How many actually die each year: 10 How many would have to die t ban it: undeterminable since it is determined by mob mentality not fact.

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

When I was in a school at UGA they ran into people all the time. They would come flying down the hill past the stadium and the student center and rail into people crossing the street. Vehicular traffic was not allowed on that road and there were throngs of people going to and fro. Add silent traffic traveling at +20mph and you get...BLAMMO!

Reply to
Kurt Kesler

I stand corrected.......bicycles cause damage on both sides of the issue. :-[

Reply to
Chuck Rudy

Hey you started it with,".......and the big killer hobby! Bicycle riding. :-)." I'm just playing along. For the most part motorists, kill bicyclists, so driving motor vehicles is the killer sport and bicycling is safe sport that rarely kills incocent victems.

As victims. Bicycle riding is NOT a killer hobby.

What nation do they come from? ;)

Alan

Reply to
Alan Jones

*Usually* only to themselves after grabbing too much front brake. :-)

Bicycle peoples come from Wheeling W.Va, don't they? ;-)

Reply to
Chuck Rudy

Accidents DO cause injury and death to spectators at races, even speedboat races. Not often, but it does happen. Same with many other sports. There have been spectators killed by hockey pucks, baseballs, and just about any other object which is thrown or hit in sports. There have been many hunting accidents causing death or injury to non-participants.

Just as we do in rocketry, these sports take steps to minimize the danger to spectators, which is why such injuries are infrequent. These measures are successful most of the time but not all of the time. The same is true of rocketry. Eventually someone will be seriously hurt or injured in spite of the precautions. When that happens it should be treated the same as in any of these other forms of recreation.

Reply to
RayDunakin

1950s--LeMans--77 people killed when a car hits a wall so hard the engine block flies into the crowd.......steps are taken to protect spectators 1987(?)--Talladega Alabama--Bobby Allison's car gets sideways and becomes airborne breaking the 'catch' fencing protecting the crowd.....sanctioning body mandates aerodynamic devices to prevent high pressure buildup under the hood of the car 2000 (?) --Charlotte NC---Indy car loses a wheel and two people are killed.....race is stopped.....sanctioning body requires tethers on all wheel assemblies

Auto racing is the crucible for disaster/remedy scenarios. Remember there was a t ime the roll bar wasn't cool.......'real' men didn't need them......then roll cages were the sign of a true wimp......the machismo days are over and every sanctioning body is safety conscious. When disaster occurs to the spectators or participants they react.

Hopefully the safety rules make it possible for a disaster never to happen in rocketry......but should it happen those who want to keep the hobby alive will react. Everyone will be safer for it.........

Reply to
Chuck Rudy

That was 1955, and it wasn't just an engine block, it was an entire Mercedes 300 SLR that launched tangentially coming down the straight and flew into the crowd. It caused MB to withdraw from racing for four decades.

- Jack

Jack Hagerty ARA Press

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Reply to
Jack Hagerty

Yep, and let's not forget airshows. Hundreds of spectators have been killed at airshows. Makes rocketry look about as dangerous a knitting.

Reply to
RayDunakin

But less dangerous than needlepoint. People have died from infections of poking.

Reply to
Jerry Irvine

People have died while knitting, too. (But lets not get into cause and effect here... something you seem to ignore in other threads. ;)

Many people have been severely injured or killed in non-professional rocketry over the years. Fortunately, it hasn't been the case for hobby rocketry as defined by NFPA 1122/1127, under NAR/TRA. Again, you may choose to ignore cause and effect.

-John

Reply to
John DeMar

I can say, as a former motorsports photographer, that this single occurrence may have been one of the most pivotal in racing. IMMEDIATELY after this crash, insurance underwriters stepped all over every type of racing facility in the US (with little exception). Even limited the amount of press passes at all events.

That isn't to say that safety for spectators shouldn't be an issue and improvements over time shouldn't be made.

Reply to
Gene Costanza

I ain't touchin' this one with a ten inch pole.

Reply to
Gene Costanza

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