That time of year again! when I crawl out from my pit and test the air temperature and check if anyone has done the spring gardening. Also to check the state of my model batteries etc. before the start of the season.
I found nobody had done the gardening, two batteries sporting black wire syndrome, and me with 'its still too bl--dy cold to fly syndrome', so back to my pit for me for a while.
However I did manage to get to the March club night with a guest speaker from the safety people. He convinced us that the latest things to be put into place to make our hobby safer was a necessary evil.
For those who haven't heard the latest, there is now a directive to make our models more visible whilst being flown at height. His take on it is "why do we insist on our gliders being coloured white then fly them into the white background of clouds where disorientation is a real possibility?" This cant possibly be safe and should be stopped immediately and we are good at stopping things!
When we all jumped on him and said it was because we are modelling the full size complete with its colour he said. "That is why his team has reluctantly allowed the compromise from a total day-glow colour of the wings to the more acceptable 6" yellow day-glow roundels with a broken black design on them."
As from the 1st of the month the safety guys would like to see 4 No x 6" day glow yellow roundels with the black breaking up the yellow (like the colouring of the roadside tape and on the rear of lorries etc.) to all flying model aircraft. He has especially pointed to our scale gliders that are predominately white on the underside and often flown to a great height under cloud by old people wearing spectacles.(Me)
These roundels are to be positioned on the top and bottom of the wings half way between fuselage and wing tip. The design is to have two black circles and a black wavy line which has proved to be the best for distance visibility.
I'm sure there will be lots more come on this saga very soon, so watch this space. What do you think?
