Thread: Heard of a terrifying accident today.

This morning, I woke up to the news that a person had been hit on the back of the head by a radio controlled helicopter and is now in a critical condition.

Hong Kong model aircraft fan badly injured by replica helicopter - Asia-Pacific

Since I used to be an avid aeromodeller, I was very worried that it was a friend that I knew since we were a very small circle. I and many otherw were quite disturbed today. Indeed it turned that I knew the injured person was but not that well.

A friend of mine who was at the scene of the accident told me that it was extremely gory. The person was still conscious when he was taken into an ambulance. The helicopter involved was one of the largest available at 15cc. and 4HP. The place where the accident occurred had a signpost clearly placed forbidding the flying of radio-controlled models. The whole local model industry is really scared now that this could lead to a clampdown on the hobby.

I suppose that this was almost bound to happen someday as there are too many lunatics around in the hobby. There are many who like to show up their skills by performing hair-raising aerobatics near the crowd. I used to be the only person who wore a safety helmet and everybody else laughed at me. I was also one of the very few who took out third party insurance. Recently I was thinking of restarting the hobby again but I suppose me wife will absolutely forbid now.

I hope the injured will come through this although the chances must be very slim. My advice to those with small children would be to stay away from places where people fly radio-controlled models, whether planes, gliders or helicopters.

Sounds like a freak accident how it lurched up and the blade got him in the head, makes me think you need to be wearing a hard hat around one of those things. mg:

That sucks

wow...that's a sad thing to hear about...i've actually wanted to get into doing that..seems fun...but sort of scary now.

Freak accident I guess, nothing can be done, it is just unlucky, I don't expect him to hear a helmet and protective gear when playing with these.....

Originally Posted by geekonetwothree

Freak accident I guess, nothing can be done, it is just unlucky, I don't expect him to hear a helmet and protective gear when playing with these.....

I disagree. If you lost part of your scalp due to the blades of a radio controlled helicopter, and live to tell about it.... I am sure you'll be wearing full protective gear next time you're around one, if it's his passion/hobby he might not want to give it up...

That's scary. I hope a few more take some safety precautions in future zxpro168.

I guess someone got a new "toy" for Christmas.

I have got an update on this, and there is actually much more. The news story was wrong! In fact the victim did not borrow the transmitter. The story was probably made up by the helicopter owner in order to put all the blame on the victim. He probably thought that the victim was going to die and would not contradict his story. The sequence of events was posted on a model helicopter forum.

1. Another person closed by was flying another helicopter very dangerously. It flew very close to the owner's head
2. The owner was startled and lost control of his own helicopter.
3. The owner's helicopter then crashed into the back of the head of the victim. The victim at that time was walking towards his car.

The moderators of the forum are now urging all witnesses to come forward with their story to the police. In the meatime, it seems that the victim is no longer in a critical condition. I hope he will be able to make a good recovery without much residual effects.

The whole thing sucks, the owner was probably as innocent as the victim. But it looks like that he could end up in deep trouble for obstructing. The moron who flew his chopper dangerously is probably to get off scot-free!

Thanks for the update

Looks like mine stays in the closet and I just got it for Christmas too.

Reminds me of the time I needed to get my eyelid sewn together, although it was just a plastic helicopter blade that did the dirty deed. Can't remember exactly but I was 5 or 6 and a brothers friend pulled the rip cord with the toy chopper pointed straight at my head!

That would suck man. Not even I would do such a thing.

Originally Posted by Halobitt

Reminds me of the time I needed to get my eyelid sewn together, although it was just a plastic helicopter blade that did the dirty deed. Can't remember exactly but I was 5 or 6 and a brothers friend pulled the rip cord with the toy chopper pointed straight at my head!

Yikes, if a toy did that damage, I can only imagine the mess a radio controlled one would make :sshocked:

Originally Posted by Autumn

Yikes, if a toy did that damage, I can only imagine the mess a radio controlled one would make :sshocked:

tell me about it...i wouldn't think one of those rip cord plastic ones would be capable of doing anything remotely harmful...guess I was wrong...

Was there any update anywhere, I'm curious how the guy is doing...?

I cannot give a futher update at the moment except to say that the victim is out of danger. But there were 2 further horrible accidents involving model helicopters in the same month that were not so widely reported.

The first involved a model shop owner who was fixing a small electric helicopter in his shop. The helicopter blades hit both his eyes. He lost the sight of one eye and is only left with 20% vision in the other.

A police inspector was trying out his electric helicopter at home and it severed his middle finger. The surgeons are unable to re-attach the finger and he would not be able to hold a gun again.

If these incidents had been more widely reported, it would have dealt an extremely serious blow to the hobby.