[NSRCA-discussion] Arming plug and Failsafe +

[Vicente Bortone]

Jason,

The most important part of your experience is that you were able to see
that the arming plug was still in place. At least you have chance to ask if
plane was armed and question the pilot. I got a real experience that I
would like to share. We were only three pilots at the field. One of them
put his plane in the pits. The other pilot and me were next to him. Few
minutes later the owner went to get something and walk away from the plane.
After he left, his plane took off in flying over the pits and flew away
crashing in the middle of the runway. We were lucky that nobody was hit and
were were only three pilots. I was a real wake up experience since we never
were aware that the plane was armed.  We never found what was the real
cause of the problem since the plane was destroyed. For sure the owner left
the plane armed and didn't have the arming plug. The radio was off as far
as I know but never really have a chance to confirm this.  After the scare,
I had a chance to talk and recomend to add an arming plug.  The plane
owner went ahead and added arming plugs to all his planes and he was glad
to know that there is a way to potentially avoid this type of incident
again.  It is clear that the arming plug won't fix anything if pilots
leaves the arming plug in place but give the oportunity to fellow pilots to
warm him of a potential problem.  I just read John Ford's e-mail.  He makes
the point more clearly than me but I think this is one real life
example that confirms what he just said.

Thanks,

Vicente "Vince" Bortone




On Sun, May 17, 2015 at 7:36 PM wayg2013 via NSRCA-discussion <
nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:

> Hmmm arming plug.... My 1911 'll plug about anything... Now thats what I
> call being armed...hee hee
>
>
> Sent via the Samsung GALAXY S® 5, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Larry Diamond via NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
>
> Date:05/17/2015 5:31 PM (GMT-06:00)
> To: Jas <justanotherflyr at gmail.com>, General pattern discussion <
> nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Arming plug and Failsafe +
>
> Looks like the arming plug debate has surpassed the snap debate.... Gotta
> love progress.
>
>
>
> Sent via the Samsung GALAXY S®4, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Jas via NSRCA-discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> Date: 05/17/2015 3:19 PM (GMT-06:00)
> To: General pattern discussion <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] Arming plug and Failsafe +
>
> Random thoughts about all this.
>
> I've watched a pilot forget to turn off his plane (and subsequently not
> having pulled his arming plug) and idle up while near the pits (he happened
> to have a hold of it still). It surprised him when it did it. It was during
> practice here and we normally taxi up the taxi way to the no taxi line, so
> its not a 'normal' contest type situation. Point: arming plug did nothing
> in this case.
>
> I personally feel that fail safe and an external on-off Rx switch is
> 'safer' (when fail safe is set correctly) and should be mandatory. If the
> fail safe is set correct then even if the Tx is turned off the motor won't
> turn on. If there is an external Rx switch and it gets turned off then (in
> theory and so far in all my years flying E) the motor doesn't run after
> it's off. I've always asked Dave (or whoever gets my plane) to turn off the
> Rx BEFORE picking my plane up from the runway. Haven't had one start back
> up when done this way. But once back to me, I pull the canopy and disarm it
> before it goes anywhere else.
>
> For the way that I do things, I don't see an advantage of a safety plug on
> my personal planes. I've been flying electric pattern since '03, so my
> habits (Rx power off once landed) are just normal for me. I can certainly
> see where some would benefit from an external plug (screws holding on
> canopy, battery connection not easy to get to and newcomers to electric),
> but I think there is just a different issue...
>
> Maybe as pilots we just need to be more self-aware and responsible?
>
> Sent from my iP
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