Who Is Your Copilot? By James Goss      I have always said we should have a copilot at our side when we are flying a radio-controlled plane. This copilot should be able to fly and land the type plane you are flying at the time, be it giant scale or small scale. You should have confidence in your copilot and not hesitate to hand him your radio if you feel the need to do so. Some R/C pilots may feel embarrassed if they had to hand over their radio and let someone else fly and land their plane for them, not me. If you are having trouble flying, and that can be any number of things, just think about the consequences of not having someone to help. With a copilot at your side you are not only assured of having backup for emergencies, but he can also be your spotter. A spotter can keep an eye on all the other planes for you while they are taking off or landing and inform you that you are about to get hit by an out of control plane. (You might want to move). I know of several times in the past that I have had to ask someone to fly my plane while I needed to do something such as: Go get my sunglasses Find my cap Get fire ants off my feet Trying to stop my eyes from watering (crying) Recover from a twisted ankle Removing a gnat from my eye ( those pesky devils) Warm my frozen hands Sun blinded     A lot more serious things than I have listed above could happen to any of us during a flight. We don't think about having a sudden physical or health problem because we are having too much fun at the field, but it is always a possibility. The larger the plane is the more you need a copilot. A small plane can do a lot of damage if it hits someone or some property, but a 20 or 30 pound plane can really do some damage. I make it a practice to never fly giant scale planes without a copilot at my side that is capable of landing my plane if something happens to me. I just feel more relaxed while flying the big birds if I know I have a backup pilot close by. The giant scale planes are a little different from the smaller planes. They fly about the same while in the air, but when it comes to landing it is a whole new ball game. The new aerobatic giant scale planes tend to drop out of the sky in a hurry when you chop the power and some of them needs to come in a little hot to prevent a stall. It only takes one bounce off the ground and then a stall and you have lost a $50 dollar prop, bent landing gear and maybe some serious damage. When these big birds come down in the wrong position my wallet begins to quiver. This is why your copilot needs to be experienced in flying giant scale planes or any other type you are flying. Why take a chance on loosing your plane, have a backup copilot.     Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. I am sure the person that this happened to will not mind if I tell this incredible but true story. A few months back at the Eastaboga flying field, Pat Thomas was having his regular eventful day while flying his large Cap-232. When Pat arrives at the field everything begins to liven up because Pat is just that type of fellow. He likes to joke around with all the other members and everybody that knows Pat really likes him. Pat is an excellent R/C pilot and has been in the sport for many years. At this time he likes to fly large sport aerobatic planes and like me he loves to hover his planes. I wasn't at the field the day this happened but was told the story later by Pat. Here it is: Pat was in his first or second flight of the day and noticed he had to blink his eyes. This was not unusual for Pat because Pat wears contact lens and everybody that wears them knows that you have to blink quite often to keep your eyes from drying out. All of a sudden Pat noticed he could not see his plane with the clarity that he was accustom to. He then realized that one of his contacts had popped out of his eye when he blinked. Now what would you do in a case like this? Pat made the decision to close the eye that had lost the contact and fly with just one eye. When you close one eye your depth perception immediately becomes mislead and it is hard to make the right decision about where you are in respect to other objects. Amazingly Pat made a good landing and when he looked down to his transmitter he found the contact lens that had popped out, it landed on his radio. That was really good luck for Pat to find his contact lens and also to have a good landing with only one eye. Pat, a drop of ca would keep that from happening again (just kidding).     The above example turned out to not be serious, but the possibility of a serious accident was lurking close by. If it had of happened to someone with less experience than Pat, they might have panicked and the plane might have developed a mind of its own and became a deadly weapon. There are so many things we don't think about that it scares the heck out of me when I do stop and think about what could happen. So let me say again that I think it is a good idea to have a copilot stand next to you while you are in flight, not only for the safety of you and your plane, but all the other pilots and spectators at the field.