[Sharpy01]

Always sad when someone looses their life, but quite frankly not a shock. Maybe more surprising that it hasn't happened sooner as pushing boundaries always adds to the risk factor.

If the pilot wishes to accept the risk, so be it. However, this stuff done near pits or spectators raises the stakes significantly. Amazing skills, speed and machinery, but neither will ever be infallible and even if you were eyes on all the time as a spectator, how could you ever react quick enough to protect vitals or a young family member if something went wrong? Answer: you cannot.

+ YouTube Video

[aceplant00]

the above video shows how easily this accidient happened. Flying heli 3D style at close range scares me. The pilot in the video does have top level skills but only takes a split second mistake or dumb thumb and all can go seriously wrong.

[aceplant00]

saw some other videos of roman Jr. Flying. He was a good pilot had great skills but from what I saw in the videos was reckless and ended up paying the price for his own actions.

[Max]

Originally Posted by dashpuppy

hey sweet ANOTHER THREAD ON THIS!!!

FACE ____ PALM !!!

Dont be too quick to judge. We moderators have a method to our madness

While there is already another thread in the heli section (actually 2, but already I merged them into one yesterday) , the gravity of the accident is something all RC fliers should be aware of.
This thread was deliberately left in this section so that non-heli filers can also be made aware of the need for safety, as witnessed in the comment below

Originally Posted by Trumpetman

Since I don't follow the heli forums this is the first time I have heard about this...
This is a good thing for all of us to know about.

[DO335]

Originally Posted by Max

Tragic.

It was an accident. I can understand that. Unless there is a video out there we wont know where he was standing relative to the chopper when he lost control. All the same, the further out you are the safer its going to be.

I saw a video about a month ago of a guy flying 3D with a large helicopter at night under the street lights, only feet from where he was standing. It gave me the willies to watch, and you could see the video guy was standing next to the light pole to give him some protection "Just in case".. It was scary stuff!!!!

Saw 2 videos related to this,

In the one, he and a friend were sitting at a table under a tent type canopy. He was demonstrating his flying ability by bringing the helicopter - said to be a T-Rex 7800, right up in front of him and landing on the table at which he was sitting under the canopy. That's a big time accident with major consequences waiting to happen.

In the other, it showed the heli allegedly being piloted by this guy going through a routine of those erratic choppy 3D style moves which would look to all the world like erratic flight.

The commentary was that he was doing just that when the helicopter whacked him in the head and it was game over.

Additionally, it was billed as a toy helicopter.

As far as being a bright young kid with a great future, I'm inclined to agree with that except for the word bright and use a different description - something like hot dog, not street smart or the like. Clearly the results are proof of that. He gambled and lost big time.

[machzx]

my heart goes out to his parents
all bs aside whatever happened it is easy to judge the young guy for what happened everyone is an expert
still a tragic loss of life
the loss of a child is the most unimaginable horror a parent can live through

[NDW]

Ed.... Well said. No matter what happened. My sympathies to his friends and family.....

Dave

[Max]

Originally Posted by Sharpy01

Always sad when someone looses their life, but quite frankly not a shock. Maybe more surprising that it hasn't happened sooner as pushing boundaries always adds to the risk factor.

If the pilot wishes to accept the risk, so be it. However, this stuff done near pits or spectators raises the stakes significantly. Amazing skills, speed and machinery, but neither will ever be infallible and even if you were eyes on all the time as a spectator, how could you ever react quick enough to protect vitals or a young family member if something went wrong? Answer: you cannot.

I agree with you, with one exception. Just put a little more distance between you and the model.

Originally Posted by Max

Tragic.

It was an accident. I can understand that. Unless there is a video out there we wont know where he was standing relative to the chopper when he lost control. All the same, the further out you are the safer its going to be.

I saw a video about a month ago of a guy flying 3D with a large helicopter at night under the street lights, only feet from where he was standing. It gave me the willies to watch, and you could see the video guy was standing next to the light pole to give him some protection "Just in case".. It was scary stuff!!!!

I found the video today.

Here is another example of proximity being too close during some parts of the flight. YIKES!!! One mistake and toast

http://www.break.com/video/insane-sk...copter-2493215
or

+ YouTube Video

even the cameraman has to stand next to the light pole for safety

[strikemaster]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/ny...park.html?_r=0

Most balanced and researched article yet, and one that gets a 9.5/10 of actual journalistic skills being shown. The original article that I saw -- the one from NBC news -- would have been laughed out of a Journalism 101 course.

Going to wait for hard evidence of what happened. With Zone Meetings coming up, might it be a good time to make recommendations to the Helicopter, Aerobatics and Safety Committees to review the rules related to extreme or 3D flight? The interval between the Zone Meetings and the AGM will give lots of time for the AMA and other groups to give the basics of what happened and why.

[OICU812]

Originally Posted by aceplant00

saw some other videos of roman Jr. Flying. He was a good pilot had great skills but from what I saw in the videos was reckless and ended up paying the price for his own actions.

FACT? DID HE NOW? Only person who knows what happened is dead, therefore that is a terrible assumption based on what you saw and what you assume to be truth. So last FF I was at I saw a young lad pretty good 3D plane guy flying lower then most guys I have seen this season and say in two weeks I find out he was killed somehow flying his plane. While the truth could be that a prop got a fracture in it, flew through the air cutting into his throat then I should assume he got what he deserved and that it was all related to the flight I saw him do last weeks b4 and he had it coming? WOW.....


Ok so for reality now and not a story, a few years back I saw a very talented 3D plane pilot actually have the prop fly off his big a$$ plane "as he was coming in for normal landing" Patrick Stubbs many here know him, prop made of CF, it flew almost to the highway over 300 feet, fast enough no one even saw it. A spectator thought they heard a sound "over there". After a half hour of searching and 20 beer bellies about looking it was found,, true story..... so what now....This kinda stuff always has a story, sometimes we are lucky enough to know all the details and truth other times we don't know enough but far too often many make silly assumptions based on their own emotions. Respect is not making assumptions rather educating yourself and others to the dangers and trying to not re invent the wheel or things around the wheel.... rather the people operating the wheels.