Pictures of injuries caused by RC Helicopters

[charlesyoung]

Probably 10 years ago. First lipo heli. 450. No soft start. Didn't slide the motor back off the main gear. I was told it wouldn't start at high throttle, had to recognize low throttle. WRONG. At low stick, plugged it in. Tip of blade missed my eye by less than half an inch. Two black eyes and a permanant cool scar about two inches long under my right eye. Bigger bags under my right eye now. Lol
Please don't take these helicopters safety lightly. That was a little 450 that kicked my ass.
You can kind of make out my eye in my Avatar.

[KillerJupe]

This is from a few years ago, I was at the park with a friend and we he was flying a 550 when it suddenly went out of control.

He dove one way and I went the other, it shattered my jaw and gave me a 7 in skull fracture.

1 week in the ICU 2 more in recovery.
little nerve damage, but otherwise recovered.

Never figured out what happened but I realized that flying or being around a big RC just isn't worth it.

Hope everyone stays safe!

[Pard]

[QUOTE=KillerJupe;7632680 ... but otherwise recovered.


... Hope everyone stays safe![/QUOTE]

Thanks for sharing that. Glad you are well.

[Breezyjr]

Ummmmm.... wow...

You got pretty lucky, if it had been a few inches in the wrong direction and you wouldn't be posting this...

[JEEPWORLD2002]

might just be wearing a full face motorcycle helmet from now on ?? Dam ouch sorry you suffered from a rc heli. I always fly far away from myself. and kinda stand behind the pilot if im spotting. We need to develop a better pilot protector setup

[jasond1979]

damn dude glad you made it out alive on that one!

[BillyWhiz]

Sorry no pics anymore (happened 3 cellphones ago!) but, I felt the wrath of a Chase 360 c.f. mainblade to the back of my calf.. Was the BEST thing that could have happened to me at the stage I was at couple years back (overconfident/slightly gauche) - flying basic 3d too close to myself: coming out of low flip heli hit ground & took off again into my legs! Bruised but no blood luckily..
Early lesson learned.
As far as I go since - I do check as much as possible on the electrics/mechanicals b4 flying, I had a Gaul x4 shed something from the main rotor (a link very likely) and it came in with a lot of force - not near me though this time. Loved that bird, but that was it for me with 500s ;-)
I fly by myself (on 280 size birds now) and I won't attend events (sadly) as I find watching someone smack a 700 is like standing in the middle of a firing range.. It's sad, and maybe just me but I will watch my 3d on the Tube!
Stay safe but fly hard!!

[quinnj3]

Ok, an incident that happened to me some years ago now, thankfully no injuries and minor heli damage.

Some background:- I had been flying fixed wing for off and on 15 years or so. The club that I used to belong to had a decent safety emphasis and enforced this as best as possible occasionally causing annoyance to the people that were not as safety conscious. I should have known better.

I had a hiatus from model flying for a few years when I got more interested in Women and eventually settled down.

My first decent heli was a Hirobo Sceadu bought used. It was kitted out on 35mhz. I quickly became proficient in tail in hovering in my back yard but stuffed it braking the main blades. I repaired the heli but didn’t fly it again for at least 6 months.

One day I decided to try again and took it to my dads house which is adjacent to a busy main road. The property has some tall hedging and trees surrounding it and as I was only testing the heli and hovering I thought it was safe enough. On spool up there was a small vibration that shouldn’t be there but I continued anyway. I was hovering about a foot off the ground for a few minutes when all of a sudden I had no control. The heli wasn’t accepting any inputs at all. I warned my dad, who was beside me, to keep eyes on the thing. The heli started to tilt and fly straight towards us. We jumped out of the way and the chopper barrelled into trees behind us.

Lessons learned:
1) Never ignore a vibration put down and stay down until resolved.
2) no matter what the intentions only fly at suitable sites. A built up area is asking for trouble if something goes wrong
3) Setup failsafe (I’m not sure if this heli had it at the time)
4) Ensure crystals are secure! (Not much of an issue nowadays however ensuring correct model and mode selected and range test before starting engine)
5) Perform thorough pre flight checks.

As you can see analysis of this one incident has pointed out to me 5 things I could of and should have done which would have prevented this from occurring. I was lucky, it could have just as easily been a different story.




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[CleanPowerSolar]

Just rebuilt my 600XN, didn't have a backup guard on, and the pulse 2s lipo I was using was a friends, he didn't solder the connector on very well and it broke the joint at the end of the flight, I'm assuming the nitro vibrations did it.

Anyway, 2200RPM, timer goes off so I start bringing the bird towards me nose in planning on coming in with an auto landing as I normally do...1000ft away to about 200ft away at some point in there the connection failure happened, I didn't have an alarm set in my DX8 for the lost connection, and the way I was coming in after I set position controls didn't change until I went to hit TH at 200ft away. So I don't know exactly when the failure occured but inside that frame, went to hit TH and nothing. Went straight to throttle cut, nothing. Move the sticks nothing. F**k. Now were like 50Ft away, the servos holding their positions (I don't know how but it didn't start even a slow Piro until about 50 ft away while I was noticing the control loss, so it may have just happened right before I hit TH. Now the loss of tail control but the motor still running wherever the GOV left it plus loss of cyclic comp sent in on an unpredictable flight path right at me.

I turned and ran and she got me good. Hurt like a bastard catching that at 2200RPM. Don't know how I didn't end up hospitalized. Had this been a 700, or a hit in body or head, may not be here right now. Never get complacent. Check EVERYTHING and run a backup guard an throttle return sping on your nitros.

I'm fine now, but be safe out there

[rdlohr]

So glad you were not hurt worse. That looks painful but way better than it could have gone. Hope you heal quickly and thanks for taking the time to post this for the rest of us!

Rick

[jhamel]

I am very sorry this happened to you. I consider this to be a system failure, as this could have happened to many other people had they been in your shoes. Maybe the FBL setup wizards could add a few more setup steps to ensure more safety.

[crashnrox]

A few year ago i was flying in my yard with an oxy 3 and a sudden gust a wind blew the heli towards me but twenty feet or so to my side and close to the house. In my attempt to gain c o ntrol i was tuurning towards the heli and stubbed my toe on a pave stone. Well in my automatic attempt to catching my balance made me move the sticks. Im sure you can guess the new trajectory of the heli. Full bore straight for my face in what seemed a nano second . i turned away from it as it went across the back of my head and left two gashes about an inch long each and another a little longer over my ear as a parting gift . just a 300 size heli is no joke . it felt like a ball bat to the head and dropped me in my tracks . i was lights out till i hit the ground . the carbon fibre blades broke on my skull and went over the house and found in the back yard. Im think im glad i wasnt flying plastic blades because im not sure they would have broke. In all honesty i believe i got lucky as i didnt need stitches but did deal with a slight concussion for a. Couple weeks. It could have been much worse had i not turned my face away just in time. Now nothing bigger than an xkk110 gets flown or even tested in my yard as i fly farther away from myself for sure . just goes to show you may feel safe flying these things in a way you have done for years and thing can go side ways faster than you can react. I did however jump right back on the horse a few days later as i figured do it or give up something you really enjoy. Besides ive been hurt worse racing dirt bikes , at work , in the military. Helis took place of my all my adrenaline pursuits of my younger days anyhow. So be it ....i love building and flying there machines. Be safer out there!