Steve Helmick brings up some very good safety points on another thread/post. I did not want to hijack Linhearts interesting post on Paul's ECL plane, it sounds great, and I hope it gets more coverage there.

I admit that I am AR when it comes to safety (I guess it came with my career choice ;-) so I hope I am not over thinking this issue with our ECL planes. ..... With the flying season now starting in the rest of the country, it may be a good time to discuss this important topic. Thanks Steve for bringing it up.

Here is Steve's post:

It will indeed be an interesting NATS and Team Trials. The Impact XLE was very impressive, and vewy, vewy quiet.

One thing about the quietude of electric CL...it will allow you to fly where you otherwise couldn't. And it gives the impression of being safe, because everyone knows that noise = danger. The electric stunter is zero percent safer than an IC powered stunter, because the speed and mass are the same...or in this case, maybe a tad more.

Having used safety cones in park situations, I assure you that safety cones do nothing to protect the non-modellers in the park, because they ignore them completely. It does look good on the accident report, however, that you had the circle protected by dozens of safety cones.

What concerns me most is that those of us who are so used to the buzzing of a glow engine might let our guard down and could inadvertently walk into the path of one of these newfangled electric stunters. Uh, for those who say that prop noise is almost as significant as exhaust noise, I will assure you...you're very wrong on that.
   Steve

Point 1: Just as dangerous in flight
     
      We do seem to equate quiet and smooth with safer. Not logical, but we humans seem to think this way? (quiet Honda MC at 30 mph Vs loud Harley at same speed, which seems more dangerous? ... tattoos don't count in this equation ;-) I think that an uninformed spectator would be more likely to not take the ECL danger as seriously as they would a loud IC engine plane?

Point 2: Cones .... On a scale of 0 to 10 the cones may move you to a 1. ;-)
           
     One park I fly at has open access from many entry points. I fly early in the AM, but still worry about a stray child, or early walker not knowing anything about the lines/plane. My solution has been to use 8 large (48" x 1/2") garden stakes from Home Depot to make a large octagon, then wrap them with about 500' of that 4" wide, bright yellow, CAUTION tape at abut 3' off the ground. I fly mostly alone, but this is easier to set up than it sounds. And it makes me feel that I have moved up on the 0 to 10 safety scale enough to protect the public, and CMA? :-) I look at this setup time as part of my much needed exercise program. :-)
            The other park that I use has only two ways in, and they are easy to monitor and allows those entering to see what is going on very easily. I point this out because I feel we all should evaluate these parks for safe flying because we can't depend on the engine noise to scare everyone away! ;-)

Point 3:  Wander into harms way. ...

     This is VERY true!!!!! I almost did this at our Palmer Memorial contest last week. I was the line boss and did a lot of running around. It was not an ECL, but it was a VERY quiet Russian plane, almost as quiet as my ECL plane. I did not hear it TO. I could not hear it over the plane on the other circle and was almost hit by it while walking down our narrow gap along the #2 circle. My fault totally, but Steve's point is well taken. Quiet planes need our other senses (good sense?) to kick in because it is easy to forget they are there.

I hope others add to Steve's list of ECL safety issues. There are many safety benefits to flying our ECL planes, but like Steve said, they are still dangerous!

Regards,