BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

I was making light of the fact that in a thread about fields and clubs you were/are posting about your heat related illness. I was also poking fun at your unique posting style. Having experiance with dehydration and heat exhaustion (fortunately not with heatstroke) you may wish to do a little research on the subject online. If you had actual heatstroke you probably would not be posting now.

Let's not digress from the topic any further, shall we.

GA_fanatic

Ahhh yes, we can always count on BB to lend a helping hand to the community with sound advice and a kind word. [sm=lol.gif] Of course these remarks also have something to do with clubs and club fields, right? j/a

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

wow[sm=rolleyes.gif] I guess you must be the RCU God here? dude why cant you lay off people here
and quit trying to be somebody?

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Hey Burl,
Why don't you lay off me? And unless you have a post with a cure for cancer or something, don't take this stuff so seriously.

PLANE JIM

My Feedback: (109)

OK LADIES

SDR-Hammer

LOL your right! But hey as long as I don’t have any complaints.

hilleyja

My Feedback: (3)

RCspidey,

Though I understand your frustration with your current situation, I don't agree with your general impression. IMHO, clubs and AMA are a virtual must for this hobby. Without them you would be risking your airplane and/or yours and other's safety every time you launched your bird. Flying at a club-sponsored field almost guarantees a good safe flying site that is well maintained and a location for get togethers. I don't know about you but I find flying alone to be somewhat boring. Most flying sites are remote enough that the current flux of park flyers using standard frequencies will not interfere with general RC flying. Go to your local school playground and launch your bird and hope the neighborhood kid down the block didn't just launch his park flyer on the same channel as yours.

Your current situation: It seems to me you chose the wrong club -- they don't appear to want new members bad enough to cater to them. I know there are some clubs in Florida that are so glutted with membership they have problems with flying times. You have alternatives. The AMA website has a list of all chartered clubs and contacts for each. Here are a few in your general area -- the one your talking about is probably one of them (some of them may be a little far from you):

1) SARASOTA RC SQUADRON* MICHAEL WINTER 941-966-7786 [email protected] 4287 HEARTHSTONE DR SARASOTA FL 34238-3232 RC

2) SARASOTA SILENT FLYERS JACK REINEMEYER 941/753-3163 [email protected] 2550 26TH ST W BRADENTON FL 34205-2953 RC

3) MANATEE COUNTY RADIO CNTRLRS BILLY G DILWORTH III 941-746-1948 [email protected] 4415 BLUE MARLIN DR BRADENTON FL 34208-8484 RC

4) TAMPA RC AIRCRAFT CLUB INC PAUL A WIESE 813/985-1048 4115 E OKARA RD TAMPA FL 33617-4446 MU

5) R/C FLIERS OF VENICE INC ALLEN C WILDER 941.497.1996 [email protected] 567 LAUREL CHERRY LN VENICE FL 34293-7243 RC

6) CAPE CORAL RC/SEA HAWKS ROSEMARY SOWA 239/936-2014 107- 1ST ST FORT MYERS FL 33907-2442 RC

7) COLLIER MODEL AERONAUTIC CLUB JEROME F KEEFE 239.642.9022 [email protected] 1161 MARLIN COURT MARCO ISLAND FL 34145 RC

8) (I used to be a member here and found it to be very friendly) SPARKS INC* ARTHUR S LAVALLEE [email protected] 3426 28TH ST N ST PETERSBURG FL 33713 RC

9) (Another very friendly site and they love helicopters) BRANDON MODEL FLYERS* EDWARD M BROWN 813/672-8744 [email protected] 13021 SAINT FILAGREE DR RIVERVIEW FL 33569-7083 RC

10) CHARLOTTE RC SOCIETY EDWARD C HILL JR 941/505-1959 [email protected] 5801 SABAL PALM LN PUNTA GORDA FL 33982 MU

11) VALKYRIES OF MANATEE INC PHILLIP M PLOOF 813.634.2828 [email protected] 4304 DANCEY DR WIMAUMA FL 33598 RC

12) PROP BUSTERS RC CLUB JEFFREY S SMITH 941-859-2707 [email protected] 1020 BURRISRIDGE DR LAKELAND FL 33809-0801 RC

13) IMMOKALEE SPORT FLYERS LARRY L KRAMER 941-353-1379 [email protected] 1471 13TH ST SW NAPLES FL 34117-5204 RC

14) +++++

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

Spidey, I feel your pain. If I had to pay $100 to join a club, and didn't get the key or combo to get in right then, I would be a bit put out. Going out and proving myself to someone who knows a lot less and has flown a lot less wouldn't sit pretty either. If they can't get it together enough to get you in, I would stop payment on the check, demand a refund or what ever it takes. There has to be another place to fly close. That club doesn't sound like anywhere I would want to be around anyway. They don't leave the gate open for spectators to come watch? Seems like a frusterated group of wanabes.

I sure hope you figure it out, and if you stick with that club, get on the board, and change their policies and make the club more user friendly for the rest of the world. That club sounds like a real pain in the tail. Who needs that! I can see why you quit if you had to deal with it.

I went to a club in orlando when I was in flight school and flew. The first time I took out my sportster, noone would even talk to me. I put it together, took off, pulled the retracts, flew the hell out of it, and they have power lines on one end so they take off and land opposite directions. I came in from the north inverted under the lines, dropped the gear, rolled and landed and everyone there gathered around my plane asking questions, shaking my hand, telling me it was so cool that I came to fly. Sure would have been cool if they would have been that way before hand. Would have made going back a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to fly there, but they were tough to talk to the whole year I was there. All flying trainers, and all thought they were the best pilots in the world. Unfortunately, Most of them could hardly keep it in the air.

MustangFan

Clubs seem not to be very friendly until you get 'in".

They are like some small towns .... don't like "outsiders".

No excuse though ...

The guy just wants to get back into the hobby ... have fun ... enjoy aircraft .... enjoy some fellowship with believers .

I've been where this guy is ... and it's not much fun !

Too bad we as club members can't be better people ! [X(]
I'm not always as friendly as I could be ... sometimes I'm wrapped up in my own thoughts and desires to fly.

Could be a wake-up call to all of us ... and many of us wonder why we can't entice young people into the hobby, when we shun people that are really trying to return. If the place is deserted ( waiting for an hour) ... what would it hurt to just let him fly ... right now ![X(]

Good gosh ... what a dilemma ... and bad experience.[:@]
Hope things improve ![8D]

Goinstraightup

My Feedback: (26)

I guess there is advantages to being in a 25 member club like mine:

I haven't waited for a freq pin all year.
I am the Safety Officer[>:]
Easy parking...
I'm one of 3 free instructors
No lock or gate on the front entrance.....
If Ken would have told me his story, I would have told him to go out and fly - especially since he had the AMA and club dues covered. IMHO he had a right to be inside the gate.

Disadvantage:

Flying alone a lot. [] Need more member involvement..Lots....

SDR-Hammer

Flyboy’s story is an all to common occurrence. It behooves me why so many people don’t associate with others beyond their own little clique. From my experience over the years visiting other clubs, about 70% of the time I either couldn't establish eye contact with a single club member or if I did try to initiate a conversation I quickly get the idea I’m not worthy because I'm standing on the wrong side of the fence. Every Club member should be going out of his/her way to be sure the club is perceived as “friendly� to visitors. In many locations visitors are few and far so it’s not much of a strain to talk with a stranger in between flights instead of another member.

As our clubs newsletter editor I wrote on this very topic earlier in the year stating that people on the other side of the safety fence should feel welcome and doing so will reap multiple benefits. Using public land, as our club does, you never know when a visitor could be the chief park ranger, a nearby neighbor or a local destructive teen. These are not the people to turn a cold shoulder to and tick off in the process.

Could this be one of the reasons why so many clubs have lost or are in jeopardy of loosing their field?

hilleyja

My Feedback: (3)

Best inducement and advertisement there is. If someone is at the field and it isn't a limited access site like some landfills are then leave the gate open and welcome the spectators. Some of them may be members in the near future.

I agree that if you have a current AMA and have paid your membership dues there is no reason to physically curtail your access to the flying site. I can understand their need to verify your flying abilities -- they can simply tell you that you have to be checked out with an instructor before you can fly on your own. I used to be a member of SPARKS out of St Petersburg and that was their policy. They require a new member to demonstrate flying proficiency before he/she is allowed to fly without the presence of an instructor. This is sometimes necessary, even for vintage flyers, because the differences and peculiarities of the flying site and landing/takeoff patterns. It took me almost a week before I got my permanent membership card, and not because I was a new flyer. I had never routinely flown the right-to-left pattern that is predominent with their site and up to that time never flew off of a paved runway. My only requirement during my probation period was that I had to make sure a designated instructor was present at the field and aware of my flying. After I demonstrated that I could manage the local conditions I was immediately removed from probation.

Cactus.

My Feedback: (1)

I guess there is advantages to being in a 125 member club like mine:

I've only waited twice for the peg all year, heli pilot not using the heli field
we're all Safety Officers
Easy parking...
I'm one of 3-4 free instructors
No lock on the gate on the front entrance ( sheep are stupid, can't open unlocked gates......
If Ken would have told me his story, I would have told him to go out and fly

Disadvantage:

erm... the welshman

CrashTestDummy!

........................

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

The more I read about other fields and clubs the more fortunate I feel to be able to fly at Sepulvada. Sure it's crowded on the weekends but I was there all afternoon today (Monday) and saw at least 10 other flyers I know well. One friend did a maiden on his KingCat Turbine, I helped another with his 1/4 scale Extra, many others were flying electrics and glow, saw one total dumbthumb crash, just your typical day at our field.

I surely would be bored at a quieter field, and since I only am in the air 10% of the time I spend at the field there is always something to see or do the rest of the time.

You could show up and not ask for help and folks might ignore you. If you seem to be having a problem folks will always offer unsolicited advice(good and bad). However if you ask for help you will always get as much as you need. I was explaining getting started to a spectator the other day and another pilot, who I did not know, offered to let him try his small electric to see how it works. You can't ask for more help than that.

We have people from every socio-economic status, many nationalities and ethnicities, every personality type and that is on a daily basis. So you can enjoy your small field and not worry about sharing your frequency but, I'll take our little zoo anytime.

P.S. Did I mention that it was 70 degrees today with a 4mph breeze straight down the run way?

tinman

My Feedback: (13)

"P.S. Did I mention that it was 70 degrees today with a 4mph breeze straight down the run way?"



dang......

abrahamn

Do you still fly at Wilber?