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The Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder makes starting our gas engines far safer and it does it for very little money. Click image to enlarge

Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder

!00% Stainless steel and made in the USA!

Text, photos and video by Tom Hintz

Posted – 11-2-2018

If you have any interest in being safe around gas-powered RC airplanes, a safe, dependable way to restrain those planes while starting should be a no-brainer. The folks at Valley View RC have come up with what looks to be the structural heavyweight of the plane restraint world. The Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder demonstrates what is possible when you start with a clean sheet of paper and a self-imposed, no cost-cutting mandate.

Design, Materials and Manufacturing

Heavy duty is a term too often used to describe products that in the real world lack such properties. However, as applied to the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder, heavy-duty appears to be a bit of an understatement. This plane holder starts with 1”-square, stainless square tubing that is formed using manufacturing techniques that retain its strength. The uprights feature plastic caps that prevent debris from getting inside at the field. All the components are fully welded, not just tacked in a few places. They even add reinforcing plating at contact points to further enhance strength and durability over the long life of this product.

Even the ground stake is heavy duty. Made from 3/8”-diameter stainless steel rod its 14-1/2” length gives the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder lots of holding power. The point is hand “sharpened” to make setting the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder up easier in more soil conditions.

The Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder uses an uber-robust piano-style hinge that may seem like overkill until your gas engine fires up at a much higher throttle setting than you wanted. This hinge supports the 14”-tall uprights under the strains modern gas engines can develop. The tall uprights make the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder compatible with most planes being flown today. The uprights are foam-covered to prevent marring of your plane.

Safe Use It is clear to me that the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder is intentionally over-built to insure safety – providing the user doesn’t do something to compromise that. One of the peculiarities of being human is the un-bounded capacity exhibited by some within the species to do something dumb enough to compromise an otherwise bullet-proof design.

The all stainless construction includes forming (left) that does not compromise the strength of the material. Note the super heavy-duty hinge (right) that will be functioning like new when we are old and in a rocking chair. Click images to enlarge

The most obvious mistake, and I have seen this happen, is putting any plane holder in the ground backwards so that the uprights fold down forward, releasing the plane rather than restraining it. Because of that, I install my Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder with a little backwards tilt so that the uprights fall towards the rear when not supported by the plane.

Get the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder facing the right direction and all that remains is remembering to use it! This is something else I have seen (and done) more than once. After a flight it can be easy to forget to put the tail of the plane back “in” the restraint. Later when the next flight comes up we can easily forget that the plane is not restrained.

I have been conditioning myself to put my planes back in the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder when I bring them back from the last flight. My routine is to restrain the plane and refuel it immediately after a flight. A simple procedure but one that can eliminate that scary moment when you realize you are flipping the prop of an un-restrained plane.

The Weak Spot

No matter how well-built the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder is the weak point is the plane itself. The Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder has been tested with a 120cc, 35% airplane at full throttle. The Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder certainly is not going to break under that load. The tail feathers however, are likely not designed with this kind of horizontal load in mind. I have not personally seen a tail feather failure in a plane holder, but common sense should set off those little warning bells in our head, telling us that standing in front of even a restrained plane and revving it up is an un-necessary risk. As RC’rs we are safest when we are smarter than our planes.

Conclusions

The Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder is a remarkably well-made restraint system that when used properly makes life at the flying field much safer. The stainless-steel material and quality construction mean this piece of safety equipment will remain functional far longer than we will. That makes the $49.95 (10-31-2018) price tag a virtual non-issue. Consider how many times we use the Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder each time we go to fly and the cost per use is ridiculously low. My safety and that of others at the flying field is worth far more than that.

Resources

Valley View RC Safe-T Airplane Holder product page – Click Here

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