ScottMcM

My Feedback: (66)

I got a call this morning, telling me to meet at the field we have been flying from, to remove all the tables. It seems the owner(farmer) sold all his land to to one of those big commercial farming organizations, and we have been evicted. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. There isn't much we can say. We used the land for free. Now to try and find somewhere to fly...

jester_s1

It goes that way some times. At least you got free use of the land for a while. Good luck with finding a new place.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

We lost our field a little over 5 years ago, so I definitely know how you are feeling right now. It's a very sickening thing to go through. We flew on Ft. Sill military base and they closed down our field with no replacements offered. We had to go out and find a new place to fly. To be totally honest with you, no matter how bad it felt when it happened it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us. We now have a better place to fly and our club has actually grown bigger since that happened. So just hang in there and start looking for a new place to fly, you never know as this might have a silver lining to it.

JNorton

My Feedback: (2)

It's like anything else in life that sucks. Make the best of it and don't let it beat you down. I moved and my favorite field is now 85 miles one way away. So we camp at a nearby State campground in the summer and I still get to see my old buds. Perhaps not as often, but enough to keep friendships alive.
John

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

We have a very good relationship with the county, our land owner. But I constantly worry about loosing our field.
Be patient, you will find a great place.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Scott, sorry to hear that....keep looking as I'm sure something will show up.

abelard

Eons ago I belonged to the Western Ohio Radio Kontrol Society (WORKS), which was moving nomadically from one meager site to another in the Dayton area. Finally we got word that the base commander at Wright-Patterson might be amenable to letting the club use part of "Area B", the original Wright Field, which had very few flight ops.

The club officers spent a lot of time in negotiations over base access, insurance, yada yada....but finally we got the OK and operated on actual pavement for a few months, holding a couple of contests with liberal safety and food-service support from the base HQ. Then the base got a new CO. The first time he went to Base Ops, this conversation ensued:

"What are those model airplanes doing out there on the field?"
"That's a modelers' club, sir, that has permission to operate on our idle runway."
"Put a stop to it."

Bill G

Those are the worst situations, since public funds are what pay for these bases. The least they can do is let modelers enjoy rc flight, at fields that often get little use otherwise.

kurt2022

My Feedback: (18)

Sorry to hear about your loss! I worry about our 2 local fields, one with the land owner in poor health! With the loss of many die hard pilots in our clubs and mostly casual flyers left, I worry that if we did lose a field, if we could get enough dedicated members together to find a new field and then do all the work needed to to make it operational! Big worry with a fleet of 50cc and bigger planes in my hanger!

raptureboy

The owner of our field just passed away and we are not sure whats going to happen with his wife and kids now. Ibrought this up at a meeting that we should form a committee to look for other. potential sites and got shot down, because no one thought we would ever loose our site, because the owner liked having us. The land could be developed and when family gets involved you never know whats going to happen. Good luck with your search and don't forget to let the AMAknow, they can help with money for relocation. We already have made contact ourselves just in case.

ScottMcM

My Feedback: (66)

We have had several invitations from neighboring clubs to come join them, and we have a couple of nice possibilities for a new field....there always seems to be an abundance of nice, giving people in this hobby.

johonmirae

At least you got free use of the land for a while. Good luck with finding a new place.

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

RB, keeping an eye out is always a good idea. You never know, it might help one of the other clubs in the area too.

Scott, One of the things our club does is offer a $5per year recipricol membership to the other clubs in the area if they want to fly with us as long as they have paid dues to their home club.
If an area club does loose a field we vote as a group and extend the welcome free though.

This hobby does have some cool people, I agree.

MrGoodwreck

You guys can come fly at my house if you want to make the trip

ScottMcM

My Feedback: (66)

Got some good news yesterday. It seems the new landowner had a change of heart....we have our field back. Now to the task of getting it back in shape...

falcon_56

Congratulations, that is good news.

If you guys really like the field maybe it would not be a bad idea to setup a lease with the landowner. If he gets some money for the land it would be an incentive not to sell the property.

ScottMcM

My Feedback: (66)

That is exactly what we have in mind.

bchapman

Glad to hear that it worked out. I hate it when fields get shut down.

topspin

That really is great news Scott. Sounds like your club is back in business.....

ScottMcM

My Feedback: (66)

This just keeps getting better and better. We spent an entire day cutting grass this week, only to find 4 tractor-trailer loads of...CHICKEN SH*T dumped right in the middle of the runway. They are planting wheat, and use chicken waste to help fertilize.....I can't help but wonder if we're having a really big, really bad joke played on us....

topspin

One way to find out for sure Scott is to move the runway if possible and just act completly unfazed by the steaming pile of chicken manure. Only problem I can see is the smell, that stuff really smells bad. On the bright side, once they use it the grass in that location will be extremely lush...

If there is no way to move the runway or work around the mountain of fertilizer then they are probably just messing with you. By leaving you with an unuseable field they know you will go somewhere else but they can say they let you stay so they were not the bad guys. If that is the case it's a pretty crummy move by the landowner.

Parkflyer939215

Question: how far are you away from .. Dazell, S.C. off US 441 ? .. .Might have a solution to your problem ...

ScottMcM

My Feedback: (66)

Looks like about 65-70 miles...1-1/2 hour drive...Stopped by the field this morning.They have gone over the landing strip with a bottom plow...looks like he has made up his mind. I hope he doesn't think this is funny....

ScottMcM

My Feedback: (66)

Well, the entire area is a wheat field now. Oh well...

GallopingGhostler

Kindah wondering for those who have fields left, if they were able to invite the squadron and company commander's, farmer's, mayor and city councilmen children and grandchildren to fly in's and barbecues, do some community help projects like pick up litter on a street once in a while, etc. might be able to spare seemingly unnecessary loss of privileges to a nearby flying field. Food for thought ....