editor in Chief of RC Heli magazine was hit by a 90 at IRCHA

[aaronredbaron]

In case anybody has already heard, our Editor Mike Velez was hit by an Aurora at IRCHA less than an hour ago. He is doing fine. He took the brunt of the impact on his back and is getting stitches. The injuries are relatively minor compared to what could have happened. This hobby can be very dangerous and this is one of those unfortunate reminders to always keep safety in mind.

We here at RC Heli thank you for your well wishes and we are very thankful that Mike is doing fine and in one piece after doing battle with a 90 sized helicopter.

[JFGrn]

That is scary!! Thank God he's alright!! I can't imagine getting hit by something that
size. Being attacked by a Great White comes to mind. Again glad to hear he's fine.

John

[RAPTOR 3D]

He can make it back out to do some more editing

[arclite5]

Did you forget to leave out any minor details like whether or not the .90 was in throttle hold or not? I'd imagine if it was still powered that his spine would've been shattered.. Thank god he's (relatively) well!!

-Kyle

[EddieNewYork]

OMG! Glad to hear he's okay. What happend and how?

[P-38J-Lightning]

Glad hes OK!

So, whats the story with it.

Details? (Maybe in next months RCHeli? :p)

Joel :D

[arclite5]

Yeah that would be cool.. A personal take on helicopter safety by the editor!

Hopefully the guy recovers fast and hasn't developed a phobia of .90 helis! I know I'd look at helis in a whole new light if I got tagged by a 700mm carbon blade..

-Kyle

[SukhoiBoy]

Thank goodness he is alright. Man, he has to edit the next issue. It would be interesting to see an article on this in the upcoming issues.

[quickster47]

Well, I was attacked by my own Hurricane last week due to a little ankle-biter dog that got loose so my thoughts and prayers go out to Mike. I only suffered some serious bruising on my left shoulder and that was from a .30 size heli. Cannot imagine the damage .90 size could cause.

Hoping for a speedy recovery for Mike.

Carl

[Sky_Dancer]

My prayers go out to Mike. Thank God he wasn't more seriously injured.

[Dynomike]

I was about 30-40 ft to the right of the incident. I was right up front, as I was covering the event for Sport Flyer magazine, so I appreciated the fact that we were allowed to be quite close to the flight line...however it was a bit disturbing a few times when the heli's came even with the pilot line, which was quite close to where the media were allowed, and not much further behind was the spectator line.

It was during the noon demo, so the pilots were pulling out all the stops and the crowd was hungry for more and more extreme flying, which of course the pilots delivered!

I recall this particular heli being so close to the flight line that myself and another photographer were getting up to move back a bit (we had been sitting to avoid blocking the view of the folks behind us), and just about then I saw out of my peripheral vision what looked like the tail brushing the ground which broke something in the tail drive. It appeared that the pilot did a good job switching throttle hold right away, but by that time the heli was already moving rearward with some speed and even with the rotor slowing it ended up going right toward the media line. It looked like Mike made a very quick evasive move (sort of a turn and run/dive) which probably kept him from taking a really bad shot, but he still got hit in the leg and possibly part of his back. He was alert and in good spirits throughout, and there was some good EMT support on-site. Within minutes Mike was riding off on a golf cart, smiling at the crowd, talking to folks and other than the wrap on his leg, looking as cheerful as he had leading up to the indicent.

The event staff had a quick stand-up meeting and quickly moved the pilot position forward maybe 40 feet or so, and the crowd back 10-20 feet. The rest of the noon demos went off without a hitch, the extra safety buffer zone seemed an appropriate response to the incident.


Mike Hoffmeister
Cincy OH

[hotairflyer]

Hope he's doing well, gotta be pretty scary seeing a meat slicer like that coming at ya!
Best wishes Mike!

[beafraid8]

That sounds like you guys were CRAZY close to the flight line!!! :eek:

Glad to hear he's okay. I hope he heals quickly. :(