safety thongs

Ken Cook Mon Sep 02, 2024 1:36 pm

The other day I witnessed a disturbing incident. Most think it's not a problem or a safety concern. A fellow flyer who just finished a Sterling P-38 twin was flying in a area which we probably shouldn't of been. Nonetheless without a safety thong on his handle. Plane was launched and it's anybody's guess to what happened but I firmly believe the lines caught on a unwanted weed. Plane turned and prior to almost hitting him, it went up at a 60 deg angle and climbed even steeper as it gained speed. The two Fox .15X's were on and the plane ripped the handle out of his hand so fast he couldn't believe it. Thankfully, the plane was flying away from where spectators gathered. However, the plane kept climbing to about 60' and possibly higher where it got caught in a treetop. I'm not certain if anyone ever experienced getting hit with lines but I have flying combat. It hurts and it hurts bad not too mention it cuts you like a razor. Don't be foolish like my friend, use a safety thong. A simple braided rope, anything. While it may not be totally acceptable, I've sen them attached to the down line with a scissor clip. Just something to direct the plane down and stop the inertia.

aspeed Mon Sep 02, 2024 8:36 pm

I always use the thong except for racing, where it is not recommended. I have had to transfer the handle a couple times in one flight because someone took off and went up high too quickly when there were 4 in the circle. (Brodak Clown race with 4 in the circle. Bad idea, but fun to watch) I have flown a slow combat plane with a .40 that went slack and recovered. It pulled the handle out of my hand very hard, I am not an arm wrestler but was hanging on real good. The thong did it's job, and my wrist hurt for a couple days.

TD ABUSER Mon Sep 09, 2024 8:55 am

The thing about flying...especially 1/2A is I need to grip the handle loosely in my fingers to get the agility I want. There have been a few times during a combat match where the handle slipped out of this loose grip and the plane ended up doing consecutive outside loops until I could use my free hand to put the handle back in my flying hand. What's funny is I don't recall any onlookers who noticed Smile

Before safety thongs became a thing a friend let go of the handle while we were practicing and his AMA Fast Combat plane with screaming Fox MK IV engine took off and flew OOS.
He hired a helicopter pilot to search for the plane [the pilot was someone he knew at work so the "fee" might have just been the gas]
He spotted the plane tangled in the top of a giant tree and did his best to remember some landmarks that would make finding that same tree on foot easier.
He couldn't do the search party on foot until the following weekend.
He miraculously spotted it from the ground but we weren't equipped to climb the tree and snag it.
It took another trip to retrieve basically just the precious Fox Combat Special engine while leaving most of the plane and the steel lines in that tree... Smile

andrew Wed Sep 11, 2024 9:24 pm

My first "big plane" was a Goldberg Buster with a McCoy .19 Redhead. Being a very young builder, I had forgotten to add the outboard wing weight. On the first flight (I knew nothing about a thong), my father hand launched the plane. Without the wing weight, coupled with a lot of nervousness and lack of talent, the inboard wing dropped and the plane went up at a 45° angle until it hit the end of the lines and I lost the handle. The plane pivoted 90° and headed back down to be instantly rekitted. I doubt a thong would have helped simply because I lacked the skill to recover. I do remember that I was surprised at how hard the handle was jerked from my grip. The .19 lived to fly another day on a long abused VECO Tom Tom -- my second "big plane" that I was able to fly into oil soaked oblivion.

Thanks to Ken for jogging some long forgotten memories.

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