I thought there was such a thing as etiquette among experienced R/C pilots. Today I was provided with a poignant counter-example.

I was flying my newly rebuilt GWS Formosa, and was having a great time. After two successful landings and several great maneuvers, I was in the air for the third time. I was still in the process of trimming and working out a problem with thrust angle when a man showed up at the field ready to fly. He braggingly announced himself as an experienced pilot and told me (with my plane still in the air) that he was about to go stand on my runway to launch his plane. I asked him to please wait while I land my plane. He proceeded toward my runway anyway.

At this point panic started to set in as I setup for a landing, hoping he wouldn’t arrive at my runway before my plane did. He was lucky, because as I pulled my plane around for its final approach, I forgot about my thrust angle problem and nosed in to the ground hard, about 100 feet short of my anticipated landing spot. This of course crushed the plane’s nose and broke the prop. This time I’m not sure if I can rebuild without buying a new airframe.

So here’s today’s R/C pilot etiquette rule: When someone is flying, don’t walk in front of them. Seems like a no-brainer to me, but apparently that’s news to some, even “experienced pilots”.