Just in case anyone needed a reminder: Dogs and helis don't mix.

[jamesotron99]

It's such a nice afternoon and I had been such a good boy by doing the washing, vacuuming and lawn mowing I thought I deserved a bit of heli time. I took my Logo 500 to the local high school, which has an extremely large area of grassed fields (they share it with the local intermediate school). There was a guy up one end practicing hitting golf balls but other than that the place was empty, so I figured it was safe enough to start flying as long as I stayed away from the guy with the club.
Boy was I wrong. I took off and had just started flying a couple of circuits when a border collie came out of nowhere and started running in circles barking at my heli. I immediately started to hover at a safe altitude and did my best to look around for the dog's owner. I should point out at this point that I am a dog lover, and would be absolutely devastated if I hurt a dog with my toy.
I hovered for about 5 minutes, long after my timer had gone off and I was over-discharging my packs. Eventually the dog's owner strolled into view and seemed to think it was so funny that her dog was being cute and barking at the flying death machine. I quickly told her that the blades were spinning at over 2300 rpm and that if she didn't get her dog under control it would be sliced and diced because I was out of batteries and had to land.
What then happened was almost funny. As the severity of the situation started to sink in and she started chasing the dog around yelling at it. It was apparent to me that she had no control over the animal whatsoever. With my great dane I know that in the unlikely situation that she ignored my commands all I would have to do is do something more interesting than the target situation (usually just lie down on the ground is enough to get her to bound over to me).
Anyway, after another minute or so I could hear my headspeed starting to sag so I climbed as high as I could and shot a high and fast auto trying to put as much distance between the heli and the dog as possible, and held it in the air much more than I normally would, so that by the time the dog caught up with it there was much less energy in the blades. Luckily the dog seemed to realise at the last second that it might not be such a good idea to grab it and came up a few inches short. I landed hard, but on the skids, my first sliding auto, but had a tip over at the end. Doesn't look like anything's broken, but I can see what I'll be doing tonight.

Afterwards I went over and gave the dog a pat and talked to the owner. Pretty much we were both in the wrong, I was flying without a spotter, and she had her dog off leash on the school's land (against the rules, but it's generally accepted practice since they stopped dogs going on the beach. something about toxic sea slugs).

Anyway, I wanted to post this just as a reminder to everyone to be careful where you fly, and if you're in a public space, always have a spotter. If a spotter had seen the dog coming I might have been able to land before it reached me. I still have the shakes, almost half an hour later.

[wws2010]

Have I been there before. I have a park literally down the street with a baseball field. I fly everyday at like 6 pm at least two packs. People dont realize the power. I had a crazy lady keep telling me that it is just a toy and she will buy another. She was a dog walker with 4 dogs all after it. I autoed it a foot away from a cliff after the battery puffed! There is the fence at the end of a field and then a foot of grass and then a 20 foot drop! crazy people!

[trent.p]

I had the same thing happen, I was flying at a field near a school by my house and right after I had started spinning up a man walks up behind me and released his 2 dogs that instantly bolted for my heli that was spinning at probably 75%, I didnt even see them until they were within a couple feet of my heli, I slammed the collective and missed them by inches. Then they chased me the entire flight and I tried to explain the the owner "I dont want to kill any dogs today" but he didnt seem to listen at all. Had to draw the dogs to the other side of the field and come in for a high speed auto and ran to get between the dogs and my heli.

The funniest part is I bring my dog out with me all the time when I fly and she takes no interest at all in heli's, and once she hears them start up she just walks to me and sits at my feet. So this whole time my dog is sitting with her head cocked sideways wondering what the hell these other dogs were doing.

[JackdaWack]

I wouldn't say you were in the wrong by any means, if a dog owner cannot control there dog it shouldn't be off a leash period. I have Lab and he's pretty nuts, once i thought he was inside and spooled up and he came hauling across my yard and luckily i hit throttle hold and by the time he got to it, it would have been a slap to the face but nothing serious, he backed off right at the blades(holy crap!). I then proceeded to get my Truggy out which he dislikes just as much, and its a good training tool because the truck goes alot longer then his chubby ass. He learned that whatever it is it fights back.. It's progressive he still is prone to chase unusually objects, ussuall squirells and birds, but he's not doing it so much anymore with my heli and other toys. But we always keep him on a leash when not fenced in its just irresponsible not to. He's a great dog, and sweetheart, but kinda too playful and by no means very controlable when his sights are sought U can tell by the Mohawk on his butt. He's been getting very good with age, 3 years ago as a pup, Insane!

I've been flying when some one will roll up and just open there doors and 3 small dogs came running out and immediatly ran at me and just started barking, and wouldnt stop. I confronted the owner, im a dog lover too, but im flying soming very dangerous and a had to mention it. I stopped flying while they were there and just hung out for 30mins flying my micro Plane. But heli or not, dog owners need to respect the people around them, and if your dog will charge a heli, he may charge at something else. Most people who go to fields play catch and are interactive with the dogs, which means there ussually trained well which is fine, but rouge animals are nto good in any situation.

[jamesotron99]

After reading the thread here back at the beginning of the year about the guy whose collie tried to grab his trex 600 I have kept my dog tied up or inside whenever there are helis around. She's too important to take the risk.
Good news is that the machine seems to be fine, I didn't check the spindle but the Mikado hardened ones are pretty tough, and I have a spare one if I wind up needing it. I'd say that I got off lucky in this particular instance.
Cheers for the posts guys, I just wanted to remind folk to be very careful, our helis are very dangerous.

[flyinfool]

I had that once too while at the high school 3 blocks from home for a quick test flight.
I had to land the heli on the roof of my truck to keep the dog and heli apart.
I also had the same with 2 small children, When I explained the danger to mom her answer was "Good, If you hit one of them I can sue you and retire" Another landing on the roof of my truck. I don't fly there any more, I make the 20 mile drive to the flying field.

[Danal Estes]

Originally Posted by flyinfool

I had that once too while at the high school 3 blocks from home for a quick test flight.
I had to land the heli on the roof of my truck to keep the dog and heli apart.
I also had the same with 2 small children, When I explained the danger to mom her answer was "Good, If you hit one of them I can sue you and retire" Another landing on the roof of my truck. I don't fly there any more, I make the 20 mile drive to the flying field.

Just curious, what did you say to her after you landed? I would have been tempted to call the police and report a physical threat to a child... Just Kidding. Sort of.

[Jasmine2501]

These are the kind of people who don't realize the stove is hot. We don't have too many folks like that around here - most people seem to realize that my aircraft is something more serious than a Wal-mart toy. Usually they vastly over-estimate the value of it. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone ask me if my $200 park flyer cost me $1000. And that's right after they ask me how high it can go

[halley]

Originally Posted by Jasmine2501

I can't tell you how many times I've had someone ask me if my $200 park flyer cost me $1000.

That reminds me of the wisdom of the lawyer in Jurassic Park. Kid picks up a pair of night-vision goggles. Lawyer: "Is it heavy?" Kid nods. Lawyer: "Then it's expensive. Put it back."

[Jasmine2501]

I think it's more a case of just not being aware of the advances in technology and mass manufacturing that have made this hobby accessible at a lower budget. I remember in the 70s when the first proportional radios came out - it was like $300 in 1970s dollars, and then you had to solder it together yourself

Back then, people seemed to be a bit smarter about this kind of thing. Almost everyone knew someone (or was someone) who had lost a finger in some kind of machine... people understood what a 10,000 rpm propeller could do to you. These days, machinery is generally not well known, and people don't seem to understand power when they see it.