Is it remotely safe?

Firstly, let me wish you all a safe and Merry Christmas to you and your families. However you celebrate, or not, the festive season may it be a happy and joyful time for you, your family and friends. Take time to reflect on the past happenings and make 2026 the best year ever.

Now onto the story for this month.

Most of the reports of injuries that I see involving internal combustion engines, that use an external glow driver system to start proceedings, happen when the pilot attempts to remove the glow driver and their hand/s or finger/s come in contact with that spinning thingy at the front of the engine. Often it is a case where the pilot ‘normally’ removes the driver from behind the engine and with an underhand motion. In other words, with the palm up and the fingers sliding under the release toggle. Then, ‘for whatever reason’, the pilot has a momentary lapse in concentration, changes their normal practice and reaches over the driver, from behind, and this, in turn, allows the back of the hand to rotate forward towards the propeller. A neat scalping action is over in the blink of an eye.

Sometimes, this scalping requires surgery and skin grafts to fix the wound that can be very graphic and showing tendons and even bones. Let’s not mention the splatter on nearby witnesses. All nasty and time consuming with some degree of rehab being required over the next weeks or even months.

The almost ‘normal’ activity of reaching over the propeller to remove the driver gives chills that multiply each time that I see it. And let’s add the issue of reaching, often blindly and in a groping motion, under the fuselage looking for the driver to remove it.

I ask the question here. Why not fit a remote glow driver point back along the fuselage with easy access and visual contact? Why not fit one in an open cockpit?

After all, they are relatively cheap, available at most good hobby shops, work well and keep your finger and hands well away from danger. On top of this it only takes a few minutes to install even taking into account the frustration of getting the cap securely on the glow plug. [personal experience here]

You could also look into the installation of an onboard glow driver system that turns on and off via the transmitter at your set throttle positions. Yes, I hear the complaint about the ‘extra weight’ involved but let’s be serious here. An onboard glow system is going to add, maybe, two to three hundred grams to the overall weight of a model and this is including the weight of the battery. How many of us have added weight to get the CG in the right place?

And often more than two hundred grams!

I once fitted a sound system to an FMS 1400mm P51 Mustang, plus a 5s battery and a 650 motor. All up the extra weight was about six hundred grams and guess what?

The model actually flew better and handled heavier conditions much better than out of the box.  The model was close on one kilogram heavier than the nominated factory weight and, as mentioned, flew better.

I actually kept the sound system in the model even after it stopped working.

So, let’s balance things out. No pun intended. A few more grams or a trip to the hospital?

Look after your mates.

Regards and respect
Daryl Woolfe
ANSW Safety Officer.