Safety Bulletin
BMFA SAFETY BULLETIN ON FREQUENCY CONTROLS
"Whatever system is in use, its operation must be clear to the users"
Following our recent safety bulletins resulting from the death of Adam Kirby, we have been inundated by suggestions from clubs and members on how we make our sport safer. We have been extremely encouraged by the huge amount of interest shown and every contributor was replied to individually. All of the suggestions were given full consideration with many helping to focus our thoughts and contributing toward our recommendations.
Equally encouraging was the number of clubs who took immediate action to address the "Fail-safe" issues and to examine how they could improve safety on their own sites. Every club newsletter and bulletin we received carried articles on the accident but, more importantly, detailed decisions taken by the clubs to address the safety issues raised.
Read the safety committees notes on transmitter control systems.
We urge you to give this the same attention you gave to our recommendations on "Fail-safes" to determine whether you can make improvements in your existing transmitter control systems. We will be releasing further recommendations on the other issues raised by the accident once they have been finalised.
Conclusion
After some considerable deliberation the committee had reached a number of conclusions relating to frequency control systems. It is clear that whatever system is in use its operation must be clear to the users at the point of operation. It is preferable to have this also mandated in writing in your club flying site rules so that there can be absolutely no misunderstanding from "word of mouth" communication on its usage. It is also essential for good communication between fliers to be established, especially those on the same frequency, and vital that at any time the user of a particular frequency can be identified.
Secondary systems can be extremely beneficial but must not be allowed to detract from the primary frequency control system. A secondary system can be as simple as the scanners we mentioned earlier, or holding areas or queues for frequency markers awaiting use.
The requirement for transmitter frequency pennants identifying the channel in use remains no matter what frequency control system is in use.
It is also clear that effective monitoring by the clubs' committees is required to ensure that no misuse from over familiarity with the system is creeping in, and it is vital that club committees do not tolerate members who think they know better and do not follow club rules.
We cannot overstress the importance of the role of the club committee and indeed the individual members of the club in contributing to the safety of our sport. Everyone must play their part in the effective policing of this most important aspect of model flying.
Everyone is a safety officer.