Scavenging For Flying Sites

When I was a kid, I got a kick out the local police responding to "noise complaints" and arrived with sirens at full blast!

Alternate ideas:

We had an arrangement with a family we knew that had a 150 x 180 vacant lot next to their home at the end of a cul-de-sac with the street and their drive off of one corner with no ditch in between. This was nicely manicured and gave us a hard surface to take off and land on with no traffic to worry about. And noise was no greater than a lawn mower.

Parking lots in closed stores might be a possibility.

Church parking lots (with permission, of course). It helps if you have your membership there.

We have used the high school parking lot when school was not in session.

We have used ball diamonds when no games were scheduled. Some churches and schools have their own ball diamonds and these work especially well (little use). Again, it is nice to secure permission, but we have done this without permission and attracted crowds of amused onlookers with nary a complaint.

Some places have paved areas used for driving instruction (where they practice parallel parking) and these, in times of non-use, can also work well (been there, done that.)

Public parks has been mentioned. The biggest problem here is not complaints, but watching that enthusiastic kids (and dogs) don't endanger themselves by entering into the circle. It is for this reason that we have normally avoided this type of area. (However, there is one just two blocks from our home of a full city block in size that is lighted all night. Night flying, hmmm! Of course, firing up the engines at 2:00 in the morning "might" be cause for receiving a complaint or two.).

I also use a large playing field where a local rugby team plays. As the pitches only get used for a three hours per week there are many windows of opportunity. It's also the place where I can run my unsilenced McCoys without fear of retribution because the nearest houses are far enough away for me not to be a noise pollutant. Ironically an R/C club was moved from the area not because of the noise emanating from the field but because they flew over folks houses.

Supermarket car parks used to be a good place to fly until they converted to 24hr opening and started to trade on a Sunday. You might want to investigate the parking lots of large industrial estates which are usually well away from housing.

Good luck with your seach!

Well, the ideal setup is the one my buddy Pat has. He has 5 acres and flies right next to his house on a well manicured, grass field. Some guys have all the luck, or good planning.

I fly at either what I call the Washing Machine site(between a gym and a line of 100' fir trees with a huge hill at the end)that has the advantage of being close or at the local commercial airport, about 20 minutes away. The RC guys have managed to cut a new deal with the airport manager. I understand they have very restricted use of the site. I plan to check that out in the spring. Used to fly there, but the site was lost for a bit due to some idiot violated the flight ceiling.

The other alternative (if I'm feelign brave) is a side lot near a local mall. It's empty on Sundays, but you may have to dodge traffic. It's that or drive a VERY long way to the club field (when they have another one).

Hey Howard, is that site near the Green River available yet? It will still an hour and a half drive for me.

I still remember talking to a young mother who lived adjacent to a public park that we used to use years ago. The site was so small that it could not handle 50 foot lines. Almost anything up to 50' but always less than!

She told me that she used to worry about her little boys coming out on to the park when we were there but she watched us through the curtains for a while. It was a site that we used to use after school when th ewind was blowing one way--as it happened, away from the adjoining houses. We were always tough on the little kids, yelling at them to get back behind the flight boxes while flying loops and wingovers away from where they were.

Eventually the mom came and spoke to us about how she instructed her boys to do what we told them to do while we were there and actually admitted to me that the noise of our unmuffled 1.5cc engines was less if a proble than the noise her little darlings made inside the house.

Crucial issue is, negotiate with the neighbours and any other stakeholders.

Schools are a potentially fertile trawling area as you can offer a 'quid pro quo'.

And who wins, provided you are a member of AMA. The deal with the school principal is:

Let us use your football field/baseball diamond WHEN YOU DO NOT NEED IT and we will ensure that no uninsured fliers use the facility. In return, we will help the students to build and learn to fly CL model planes. Juniour high-school woodworking projects have great potential!

Catch 22. Unless school principal indemnifies his students, they have to join AMA, if for no other reason than to be covered for insurance, before they can fly the gadgets that you helped them build.

So whose a sick puppy then?

Cheers

Places...

Hardtop areas behind businesses in distinctly business districts on weekends sometimes works.

Thanks to All! Good tips, and I have some excellent prospects.

As Yogi Berra said, "You can see a lot by looking."

Hey, I patronize the team (catch maybe a dozen games a year), think that would count for something.

You are a marketing genius! Halftime shows (football) at the College and High School level are a little bland. Picture Matt flying his Stuka at halftime at the Orange Bowl! Wow! It would not only work at the TV level, it would work at the local level just as well.

Here we go! Let's do it! I know most CL fliers are introverts and avoid this kind of thing, but Leonard's idea forces us out of our shells, and makes the world a better place.