Some useful info

Please everyone read this entire post.
I've put a post here from Phil Spillman. At the end of this post I have a link you can visit, for the AMA. There are Acrobat PDF files of NATS news you can download. You can also see scores of the Scale events there.

From Phil:
To the NATS news, Phil Cartier called Gil Reedy to say that among other things several persons including at least one Stunt Flyer had experienced cardiac distress. Phil said that during his pattern a stunt flyer started to get severe pain and that his wife had to go into the circle to take the plane from him. He was later rushed to the hospital for help. Another man who helped many get unstuck from the mud at the combat circles had a heart attack enroute to home. He drove himself to the emergency room. One would think that the AMA would yield some electronic reports from their/ our alleged big meet! Perhaps this kind of service is expecting too much from that organization!
Phil Spillman

First, if you ever think you may be having a heart attack, COUGH. Cough hard and keep coughing. This is similar to heart massage that you cna do yourself if you are alone. It also keeps the oxygen going.

http://modelaircraft.org/comp/natsnews/03NatsMews.htm

>To the NATS news, Phil Cartier called Gil Reedy to say that
>among other things several persons including at least one
>Stunt Flyer had experienced cardiac distress. Phil said that
>during his pattern a stunt flyer started to get severe pain
>and that his wife had to go into the circle to take the
>plane from him. He was later rushed to the hospital for
>help.

The stunt flyer was Gerry Phelps who experienced problems during an official qualifying flight. His wife Merry took the controls and flew the plane until it ran out of fuel and landed it. Since he flies the "wrong" direction, this was not something just anyone could step up and do. I believe Gerry's problems were more related to a health problem he has had for some time, and not simply heart related. Without going into detalails (all of which I do not have), latest reports are that he is doing fine. A nice gesture was the card that was sent to him that was signed by many of the competitors at the event.

We should all be aware that competition IS STRESSFUL to many!

By far, the most common problem with day-long contests is dehydration, heat prostration, and sunburn. We have been given good advice many times:

1. Stay in shade if possible
2. Wear a hat
3. Drink more water than you think you can handle.

On hot days, my favorite headgear is a floppy felt hat. I like to soak it in water often. Baseball caps are useless.

The one fatality I remember at the Nats was someone who had a heart attack while pitting at the Racing circles back at one of the Lawrenceville Nats in the early 90s. One of the results was the presence of an ambulance at the Nats site after that. A lot of the competitors are older citizens.

On a hot day, if you don't need to visit the porta pottie, you are not drinking enough water.

Coughing during a heart attack, nice urban legend but WRONG, Useless, etc. This sucker got out there like the little girl/boy who has a terminal disease and wants everyone to send him/him an email.

Perhaps, Maybe, it might be an idea to NOT have an event during the hottest part of the season?

>On a hot day, if you don't need to visit the porta pottie,
>you are not drinking enough water.
>
>Coughing during a heart attack, nice urban legend but WRONG,
>Useless, etc. This sucker got out there like the little
>girl/boy who has a terminal disease and wants everyone to
>send him/him an email.
>
>Perhaps, Maybe, it might be an idea to NOT have an event
>during the hottest part of the season?

Huh????? Are you saying he was faking a heart attack to get email?

I don't understand....

LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-03 AT 06:36 PM (CDT)
 
Mr. Clean is correct. I had gotten this "cough if you're alone and having a heart attack" hoax, and checked it. Anything I get that I think could possibly be a hoax, I check it. For this one, see http://www.snopes.com/toxins/coughcpr.htm

Hoax debunking websites I have bookmarked are:

http://www.TruthOrFiction.com/

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp

http://www.datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm

http://www.stiller.com/hoaxes.htm

http://www.snopes.com/snopes.asp

Spreading bad information is worse than no information. I would like to track down the originators of these hoaxes and give them something to remember me by. I know Circle Mouse meant well (as did my friend who sent it to me), but please bookmark all the above websites and use them when you get suspicious stuff in your email. If anybody knows of other hoax debunking sites, I would appreciate your posting them. I got a hoax yesterday about UPS uniforms, and checked it. Took me 5 websites before I found it reported as a hoax, so the more you have, the better the chance of finding the truth. I hope Leonard hates hoaxers as bad as he hates the spammers and popperuppers. I hate 'em worse, 'cause they're just being mean, instead of just trying to make a buck. Steve

>The one fatality I remember at the Nats was someone who had
>a heart attack while pitting at the Racing circles back at
>one of the Lawrenceville Nats in the early 90s. One of the
>results was the presence of an ambulance at the Nats site
>after that. A lot of the competitors are older citizens.

Sadly, we did have a fatality at this year's Nats. Jerry "Who" Meyer died on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack Monday afternoon. He had just placed fourth in his racing class. Jerry was...well, Jerry was wonderful. He made flying a lot more fun when he was there. He raced, he flew stunt, and two weeks ago he was awarded the Hazel Sig Sportsmanship Trophy at the annual Sig contest. We console ourselves with the thought that he died doing what he loved. That doesn't mean we'll miss him one bit less. So long, Who.

Randi Gifford

>Sadly, we did have a fatality at this year's Nats. Jerry
>"Who" Meyer died on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack
>Monday afternoon. He had just placed fourth in his racing
>class. Jerry was...well, Jerry was wonderful. He made
>flying a lot more fun when he was there. He raced, he flew
>stunt, and two weeks ago he was awarded the Hazel Sig
>Sportsmanship Trophy at the annual Sig contest. We console
>ourselves with the thought that he died doing what he loved.
> That doesn't mean we'll miss him one bit less. So long,
>Who.
>
>Randi Gifford
>

Thanks for the thoughtful post, Randi. I didn't know Jerry, but I'm glad you did, so you could post such a nice tribute to him.
Sammy

LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-03 AT 09:51 PM (CDT)
 
>Sadly, we did have a fatality at this year's Nats. Jerry
>"Who" Meyer died on Tuesday after suffering a heart attack
>Monday afternoon. He had just placed fourth in his racing
>class. Jerry was...well, Jerry was wonderful. He made
>flying a lot more fun when he was there. He raced, he flew
>stunt, and two weeks ago he was awarded the Hazel Sig
>Sportsmanship Trophy at the annual Sig contest. We console
>ourselves with the thought that he died doing what he loved.
> That doesn't mean we'll miss him one bit less. So long,
>Who.
>
>Randi Gifford
>

This picture was posted by Fred Krueger in the following thread:

http://clstunt.com/htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID1/5158.html

The racer who died at the circle in the 90's was Larry Dzak, Sr, "The Wiz". He and Jerry Meyer were both great guys and good friends. I'm one of the many who miss them both and wish their families well. Personally, I'd just as soon not pass away in some bed in a nursing home.

Losing Jerry stinks, I hope he's gettin one flip starts now.