AMA Safety Committee Announcement - April 23rd, 2004 - Lithium Battery Ha...

[Mike Hester]

MessageAmen brother. And I hope you're somewhat recovering from that ordeal, I know how bad it sucks to lose everything like that. I wish I could have done more to help out, and I'm sorry for my involvement in the whole thing; I feel indirectly responsible. It's not easy to sleep at night.

I hope you're doing ok, you know where I am if you ever wanna talk......or just bitch =)

-Mike

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: cameron 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 10:38 PM
  Subject: RE: AMA Safety Committee Announcement - April 23rd, 2004 - Lithium Battery Ha...


   It makes me sick to know most Sponsored pilots who others look up to say Duralite-Plus/Emory Donaldson are stand up guys & know what they are doing.
   That company "Claims" to carry NO liability Insurance! And got there "Charge safe technology" by hit & miss! They have had more than one fire! They have done NOTHING to settle up with me or State farm insurance co. Close to 250k worth of damage done & these stand up guys do nothing but put color ads out there to draw you guys in to the dark promise of a "safe" product! 
    This AMA safety announcement is about 2 years late. Wait till you read about something worse than property damage. 
   The Battery guru's on this site are even UNAWARE of the dangerous side of these batteries capabilities. THEY BURN REAL HOT!
    
    Li-ion were designed to have 3 Safeties on them 1. Overcharge 2. undervoltage cut-off 3. THERMAL!
   The first thing modelers do is remove them!  OR TRUST in some company to install a "safe" charge device! OR buy the latest Charge all Charger!

    Modelers know if you stick your finger in a spinning prop it will cut you! They have NO idea what kinda potental a Li-Ion battery can do IF something goes wrong.

   IF you run them Beaware. & Good luck.  

   Sleep tight!
    -----Original Message-----
    From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Mike Hester
    Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 10:11 PM
    To: discussion at nsrca.org
    Subject: Re: AMA Safety Committee Announcement - April 23rd, 2004 - Lithium Battery Ha...


    It's great to be back and healthy, my friend. I'm totally different than the last time any of you guys saw me, so be prepared =) And yes, I'm building and burning fuel like crazy. I am BACK. But I won't be back in competition until later this season, I sold my 2 meters to pay for doctor bills. My new one should be ready to rock in about a month. I WILL be at Andersonville this June though, flying or not, so I hope to see you guys there.

    No Bob it wasn't my shop, it was Cameron Smith's HOUSE. He was asleep on the couch and almost was burned alive. I built the plane...a scratch built modified Typhoon 2000, the prettiest one I have ever seen. He took it home at 6PM on a Monday night, and at 7:30 AM the next morning, he called me up and told me he was in his driveway, in his underwear, and "everything is gone". I hope he's back into his house by now, but I haven't spoken with him in over a year...he quit and is selling his pattern planes. (Imagine that).

    And yes I restrained myself pretty well back then, but no more. All I was trying to do was say "be careful" and some people....sponsored DURALITE pilots at that, didn't want to hear it. And yes it made me madder than hell, in case you wondered.

    I think there's definitely a place for this technology....but as it was marketed 2 years ago, it was "TOTALLY SAFE". It was never, and is not now totally safe. Therein is where I had the biggest problem. Just be honest so someone doesn't wake up dead ya know?

    Allrighty then, time for bed...I'm flying tomorrow morning.

    -Mike

      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Rcmaster199 at aol.com 
      To: discussion at nsrca.org 
      Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 9:49 PM
      Subject: Re: AMA Safety Committee Announcement - April 23rd, 2004 - Lithium Battery Ha...


      Hopefully you feel a little vindicated Mike. As I recall, you took quite a merciless whipping from this list about a year and half ago, when you first announced this problem .

      We missed you dude. I hope you are back and healthy. We missed Cameron too. 

      See you guys in P'cola next weekend, maybe???

      Matt K

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