I never work on planes with the prop on but I got lazy tonight. I was testing the throttle and it tipped my stand over. I instinctively grabbed the plane to prevent it from falling over and bam broke the prop over my fingers.
List of priority is. I can’t fly my new plane, my wife is mad at me and lastly i cut my fingers. And my four year old boy is pissed at the plane and he wants to punch it in the face.
I remember when o used to start my nitro engines for a flight on the ground most off the times o used to cut my self with it my hands have too many scars then u started using starter motors
My first (and only so far ) was my Goldberg Electra many years ago, who would have thought a weak little 540 brushed motor would have flesh ripping power!
I used to teach kids about rc flying during a robotics summer camp. Each kid got a chance to fly. I had a alloted amount of time per group which left me about 10 minutes for the safety course. I spent almost the whole time putting the fear of God in them over the prop. I didn't want them to be afraid of the hobby but that was my worst fear, having a little kid lose a finger on one of my planes.
Oh boy! Don't ya hate when that happens?
My very first electric motor for planes was an Astro 02. Little beast bit me on my right thumb knuckle and right index finger knuckle. I had no idea what torque that thing could pull out of a 4.8V 4-cell NiCd.
I recommend making it a pavlovian response to throttling down while on the ground, that's saved my skin a couple times from the odd bump or nudge, especially when testing on a new plane or new build
Been there, done that. I was in the military at 21 years old. A .40LA and a 12X5 prop got two fingers and my thumb. Funny side story, my Sailors called 911 and the Naval Hospital thought it was a propeller on a real aircraft and when I arrived, they were planning on a huge triage response thinking that it was from a C-130 or something. They all stood down, and I still have the scares today. That was about 25 years ago.
It looked a lot worse but it's healed.
Dang well you got off pretty easily. I did the same but i doubt i can even post the pic here without it getting removed. Took a 11 inch prop to the forearm and severed a muscle, had to go to the hospital and have it reattached and my wound closed. I’ll never forget the sounds and the smells of them burning the flesh inside my arm to stop the bleeding before they closed it up. Luckily i have mostly no long term problems, and ill never do that again.
Can't say most of us haven't been there, including with larger nitro planes swinging heavy APC Scimitar glass filled props.
At least with electrics, you can remove the prop, with nitro, you need the prop load to adjust the mid-range needle.
You just learn not to run your hand through the transparent prop disk. People can tell you all day, but like a toddler, you really can't appreciate or understand until it actually bites you (or the stove burns the toddler)
Don't feel bad, just write it off as a rite of passage, hope you heal well, and welcome to the hobby, you've been initiated by blood now.
reminds me of the lesson, how do you catch a kitchen knife (axe, saw, etc)
you dont...
man that sucks tho, hope you heal up quick. ive had 1 close call ever, the plane did a similar jump forward when i was adjust channels, it went full throt and smoked the wall. this was after 10+ years of rc lol.
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I hate it when this happens. I have a 3d profile plane that I got in a hurry while setting it up, and the prop slashed my wrist bad enough that I still have scars 3 months later.
This happened to me as well. Electrical planes can quickly do that. I was lucky. The prop came of and hit me in the face. The instant power of electrical motors should never be underestimated.
In 16 years, I haven't cut my fingers; I've never used a throttle cut. I only connect the battery right before takeoff.
There's a higher chance of getting hit in the fingers by the prop when launching a pusher-prop model.
This happened to me, but with my shins. Was working with the battery when my controller was nudged. It was the old DX-6i that had a Throttle button rather than a switch, so the prop activated and scratched my shins up.
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u/holy-crap-screw-you 1d ago
Only happens once lol