Non-Flying Public and Airplanes

A little background on the Mayo 1 incident. The kid was a 17 year old with special needs. He allegedy had been excited to see the helicopter at the airshow and had researched the startup procedures online before the show. The particular model is a FADEC controlled engine, and from what I'm told (not a helo pilot myself), only requires throwing on the master and turning the engine control to the start position (maybe one or two other switches are necessary, once again not a helo guy).
 
Ravioli said:
Even when I know the owner I ask permission first.

Reminds me of one of my peeves. People who say, "I'll treat it like it's my own." I tell them, no... treat it like it's mine, because it is!
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A couple I'm close with have a cherokee like mine. They have a regular preflight routine for their airplane. When we took mine (their's was down for something ) he immediately started their preflight on my airplane. I asked him to stop, don't touch unless I ask, and he got very surprised at my attitude. Why, I don't know, because I don't touch their airplane. I then wasted everyone's time by doing the entire preflight all over again.
 
PPC1052 said:
I'm confused. Did the kid overtemp the turbine while starting it or not?
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He started it, that's bad enough, as far as over temp don't know and it really isn't the issue.

Havint a unauthorized person, a child no less and on a video that's on YouTube, spin up that ship is waaaay more of a issue to the company than burning 10 engines up.
 
midwestpa24 said:
A little background on the Mayo 1 incident. The kid was a 17 year old with special needs. He allegedy had been excited to see the helicopter at the airshow and had researched the startup procedures online before the show. The particular model is a FADEC controlled engine, and from what I'm told (not a helo pilot myself), only requires throwing on the master and turning the engine control to the start position (maybe one or two other switches are necessary, once again not a helo guy).
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Groan, well, I have no idea how to handle a kid like that and Bless the parents who do. I was thinking about that as I was posting my views on raising a kid. I lot of the rules get modified or more accurately, handled differently with kids with cognitive issues or organic behavior issues. I'd cut that dad a lot of slack.
 
Wow. Thanks for starting this thread. I've never flown into a public event and now don't think I will. Yikes!
 
I flew in to an airport that was hosting a community day to pick my grandmother up to take her flying in my plane for the first time. I had arrived before everything got going, and the airport was not NOTAMed closed. When we returned to the airport, things were starting to get going, so we decided to take a walk around to see what they had. It wasn't that big of an event, but they had some old warbirds and military trainers on display on the far side of the FBO ramp where I was parked. After about half an hour, I returned to my plane to go home. I left my door open while I did my pre-flight. In the time it took for me to walk around to the other side of the plane, someone had walked up to the open door and had stuck their head in to check it out. He was polite enough not to have touched anything, but it never occurred to me that my 1970s era Cessna would be mistaken for one of the aircraft on display.
 
DesertNomad said:
Wow. Thanks for starting this thread. I've never flown into a public event and now don't think I will. Yikes!
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I've never had a problem myself. There may be reasons for that though.

1. The sort of events I usually go to tend to be in small towns.
2. Nobody had any interest in crawling all over a raggedy old Cherokee (I'll have to see if that changes now that i'm a Cardinal driver).
 
Yeah I guess they’re saying Mayo 1 was a 17 year old teen vs 6 year old boy. Doesn’t say special needs kid though. If it was, then someone should’ve kept an eye on him.

Kind of ironic, couple years back I did a PR at the local Walmart. An autistic teen came up and knew more about the aircraft than most pilots! :DOnly thing he got wrong is he thought our wire cutters were antennas. He knew exactly how to start the thing so I watched him like a hawk and ate lunch while keeping the aircraft in full view.

Like the Mayo 1 EC145 (H145), starting most advanced helos is essentially batt on, throttle to idle and hit start. FADEC automatically introduces fuel and controls the accel to idle Ng. No hot start worries. Almost positive the 145 doesn’t use a key for ignition. I know the 135 doesn’t.

No excuses for an unauthorized start. Stay at the aircraft with starter / igniter CBs pulled or just disconnect the batt. If you leave the aircraft then lock the doors. Simple. Then, when you leave, do a thorough preflight because your switches / levers are gonna be all jacked up and you'll have trash stuffed in all areas of the aircraft.

http://www.rotorandwing.com/2015/07/01/child-starts-unattended-medical-helicopter/
 
For @Lowflynjack, here's the real question... Would you rather have a kid climbing in/on/around your Cessna or monkeying with your Canon behind your back?
 
PPC1052 said:
I flew in to an airport that was hosting a community day to pick my grandmother up to take her flying in my plane for the first time. I had arrived before everything got going, and the airport was not NOTAMed closed. When we returned to the airport, things were starting to get going, so we decided to take a walk around to see what they had. It wasn't that big of an event, but they had some old warbirds and military trainers on display on the far side of the FBO ramp where I was parked. After about half an hour, I returned to my plane to go home. I left my door open while I did my pre-flight. In the time it took for me to walk around to the other side of the plane, someone had walked up to the open door and had stuck their head in to check it out. He was polite enough not to have touched anything, but it never occurred to me that my 1970s era Cessna would be mistaken for one of the aircraft on display.
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I'll do that sometimes. I like to see what setups other people have
 
Velocity173 said:
Yeah I guess they’re saying Mayo 1 was a 17 year old teen vs 6 year old boy. Doesn’t say special needs kid though. If it was, then someone should’ve kept an eye on him.

Kind of ironic, couple years back I did a PR at the local Walmart. An autistic teen came up and knew more about the aircraft than most pilots! :DOnly thing he got wrong is he thought our wire cutters were antennas. He knew exactly how to start the thing so I watched him like a hawk and ate lunch while keeping the aircraft in full view.

Like the Mayo 1 EC145 (H145), starting most advanced helos is essentially batt on, throttle to idle and hit start. FADEC automatically introduces fuel and controls the accel to idle Ng. No hot start worries. Almost positive the 145 doesn’t use a key for ignition. I know the 135 doesn’t.

No excuses for an unauthorized start. Stay at the aircraft with starter / igniter CBs pulled or just disconnect the batt. If you leave the aircraft then lock the doors. Simple. Then, when you leave, do a thorough preflight because your switches / levers are gonna be all jacked up and you'll have trash stuffed in all areas of the aircraft.

http://www.rotorandwing.com/2015/07/01/child-starts-unattended-medical-helicopter/
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I knew people that were there and were semi involved. From what they said, it was indeed a special needs teenager. The crew was in the immediate vicinity answering others' questions and doing the whole tour thing, when the kid got in the front seat and threw the few switches necessary for a start. By the time they got over the initial shock of hearing the aircraft start to spool, got the kid out and assessed the situation, the aircraft was up to idle. The resulting rotor wash flipped a nearby shade tent.

Granted, they should have done a little more to "safe" the aircraft, they probably weren't expecting someone with knowledge to jump in the cockpit and start the damn thing. Bet they won't make that mistake again. I often wondered as a kid at airshows if the aircraft on static display were somehow disabled to prevent such things. Pulling CBs or disconnecting the battery seems to be the best option.
 
midwestpa24 said:
I knew people that were there and were semi involved. From what they said, it was indeed a special needs teenager. The crew was in the immediate vicinity answering others' questions and doing the whole tour thing, when the kid got in the front seat and threw the few switches necessary for a start. By the time they got over the initial shock of hearing the aircraft start to spool, got the kid out and assessed the situation, the aircraft was up to idle. The resulting rotor wash flipped a nearby shade tent.

Granted, they should have done a little more to "safe" the aircraft, they probably weren't expecting someone with knowledge to jump in the cockpit and start the damn thing. Bet they won't make that mistake again. I often wondered as a kid at airshows if the aircraft on static display were somehow disabled to prevent such things. Pulling CBs or disconnecting the battery seems to be the best option.
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I’m not surprised that this sort of thing happened then. Immediate vicinity when someone is in the pilot’s seat, doesn’t cut it. The pilot should have been just outside the cockpit. Pretty darn slow response as well. I can somewhat understand the starter being engaged but as slow as a turbine spools up, it should have never gotten to idle.

My policy is always expect the unexpected at PR events. That’s why I’m always a bit uneasy. I was at a high school a couple weeks ago and sure enough, the “no hand hold” sign on the VOR/LOC antenna prompted some to grab it. Friend of mine was at an air show in a Black Hawk with a teenager up front. The kid grabbed the emergency release handle on the door and my friend told him not to touch it. A few seconds later he turned his back and Blaaaam! The door hits the tarmac because the kid pulled the handle. The non flying public just cannot be trusted in aircraft, especially military aircraft.

A horrible example is an accident occurred back in 1981 at the NAS Willow Grove Air show. A 7 year old kid was seated in an S-3 Viking and the seat wasn’t safed. He pulled the ejection handle and punched out, killing himself and burning his brother seated beside him. Again, expect the unexpected.
 
Velocity173 said:
A horrible example is an accident occurred back in 1981 at the NAS Willow Grove Air show. A 7 year old kid was seated in an S-3 Viking and the seat wasn’t safed. He pulled the ejection handle and punched out, killing himself and burning his brother seated beside him. Again, expect the unexpected.
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A friend of mine with an Ex-Sov block trainer had a very scary experience once upon a time with kids and the ejection seat in his airplane. It didn't activate, but I think he was reminded of the near-accident every time he got near the airplane after that. Ruined it for him.
 
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