porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

lol....everyone wants to be a mod lately. It is what it is.

Sport_Pilot

Suggest we take it here.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/ama-...-aviation.html

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

As if that one will stay "pure"....already talk in there about shooting drones down. Threads meander here and there, nothing anyone can do to stop that.

DrV

My Feedback: (2)

Guys, I want you to be aware that there is a guy at our field who states that he is from the FAA and goes around checking registration. He approached me and asked for my registration number last week. I complied and showed him my FAA number. He was in casual clothing. I did not want to escalate the situation and ask for his ID and position with the FAA so I complied. It's all good, I'm not complaining about the "enforcement" i just thought one would have a formal identification badge/ID and be "on duty" (he may have been on duty I don't know) to be going around asking for registration numbers.

Billy

My Feedback: (15)

For the same reason this guy " if in fact is truly an empolyee of the FAA" asks a private citizen to produce evidence of their FAA reg #, it would not only be professional but prodical for him to produce ID showing he is in fact an FAA inspector.
I for one will be prepared to show FAA reg # but you can bet your *****, as I'm reaching down to take off the canopy of my plane, he will be reaching into his wallet to produce his ID as well

Billy

DrV

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Billy, How have you been? long time no see. Yeah I agree but I didn't want to make a scene and just complied. Seemed to be the path of least resistance at the time. Now I think of it I may have to speak to the club officers and get their take on this.

Mike

Billy

My Feedback: (15)

Hey Mike
Things have been great.
Glad to see you're still flyin
Got to get out there myself.
Take care
Billy

saramos

The SAE event is a collegiate competition where college engineering students design and build RC aircraft to compete in a heavy lift contest. There are usually around 60 teams from around the world, about 500 participants. They basically fly their planes with ever increasing weights until they either no longer can become airborne, or crash. It's a great event to participate and to spectate. Well worth stopping by.

Scott

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Thanks Scott,
You know I think that was going on when I was out there once before when I stopped in, It did look interesting, I forget who,, maybe Corey asked me if I would fly for one of the teams, but I couldn't stick around that day. I'll try to make it by if I'm still in town


cya,

saramos

Cool, I look forward to the opportunity to meet you.

Scott

Silent-AV8R

I hate to bring this up, but it is making the rounds about how the FAA came to the Basin and was checking FAA registration and making threats to close the field, etc. One person told me that his club called and talked to the head of the Apollo Field Charter #152 and that he verified the incident. So, any updates on this? What happened??

BTW - this is an email reportedly sent by the Camarillo Club President about this:

Sport_Pilot

Is it real or just a rumor? Or most likely something real that has been exaggerated each time it is told.

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

I think in this case it is real, I seem to recall another member noting this and showing an FAA business card from someone, although the info was covered.

Something is clearly happening to warrant this level of interest from the FAA. Someone is either reporting them, or they are close to something that is some type of sensitive nature. The FAA is just not sending out inspectors/agents randomly to check on registration compliant.

ira d

Hard to say but being the basin field is close to a airport and located on city property I don't doubt the FAA has been out there. As for issuing a fine to the club I doubt it as I don't see how that would hold up in court.

porcia83

My Feedback: (8)

As to the fine, that's not what they would normally do, at least not according to their own documentation. Of course it depends on the situation, but there is a progressive program (verbal discussion, in person visit, written warning, etc etc)....it typically wouldn't be a first offense fine situation. If they keep coming back to one place though, it certainly would seem to indicate there is a problem that they are trying to deal with.

Silent-AV8R

I asked the AMA about this. Here is their answer:

saramos

The first issue that recently caught the attention of Van Nuys Airport was a large aerobatic with smoke they saw from the tower that they believed to be flying above 400 feet. Since then, there have been visits by LAPD and airport officials,but they were mostly concerned about FPVs being flown and craft above 400'. The City of Los Angeles passed a new ordinance making it illegal to operate what they call a drone. They define a drone as any remote controlled aircraft being flown with the aid beyond natural eyesight except for corrective glasses and contact lenses. This includes goggle, screens, binoculars and other devices. It applies to quads, helis, airplanes and gliders. I have not heard of any checks of registration. Their issue is more with local law and planes violating the 400' limit so close to the Van Nuys airport. I am not positive, but it may be that the police stopped individuals from flying FPVs.

There might be confusion between this and talk of the field ( and a good portion of the basin ) being closed in the month of Oct. for a large event.

Silent-AV8R

The LA City Ordinance does not draw a distinction about what is a "drone" or not. It bans ALL RC flying, including all of what we would call model airplanes from doing the following:

1) flying over 400 feet
2) flying at night
3) flying within 5 miles of an airport without express permission from the airport
4) flying BLOS and/or using FPV

There are a few other things included in the ordinance.

I urge everyone flying within the City limits of Los Angeles to take a look at the actual law.

http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/...2_12-02-15.pdf

BTW - this law violated the primacy of the FAA and is being challenged in court on those grounds, but for now, it is the law in LA.

alanrw

According to Councilman M. Englander the Basin already is in compliance with the above mentioned bullet points. So we are good.

Silent-AV8R

Yep, no worries at the Basin. The Field of Dreams site in San Pedro no longer allows gliders. Which is ironic since the club that flies there is called the Soaring Union of Los Angeles (SULA).

alanrw

Just read an article in the L.A. Times. Evidently, they are planning a Cochella type music festival in the basin. The estimate is 250,000 people over 3-4 days. Exactly how will they get that many people (like 80,000 a day) into Woodley Park using only Woodley and Burbank Bl. ? Impact into the surrounding area as well as impact into the "environmentally sensitive areas" adjacent to the flying field and directly south of Woodley Park? Supposedly, the promotors are going to pay $900,000 to Parks and Rec. for usage of the area. The flying field is supposedly going to be temporarily converted into a massive parking lot (including the weeds adjacent to the main runway, ). Prep work is supposed to take one month during which the flying field will be closed.

Here is the article from the L.A. Times:

City officials have asked the Corps to grant a waiver allowing the event to proceed in late 2017 in the area currently governed by regulations that limit events to 5,000 people, prohibit use of pyrotechnics and restrict amplified sound to the equivalent of a loud auto horn at 10 feet.
If approved, promoters predict the event will attract 250,000 people and generate roughly $1 million for the department. They also promise to highlight environmental nonprofits that support their effort in marketing campaigns and displays during the event.
As the Corps prepares to rule on the waiver request, environmentalists are choosing sides.
Groups including TreePeople, Liberty Hill Foundation, Mujeres de la Tierra, L.A. Water Keeper and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps support the event promoted by the Make Good Group and financially backed by Goldenvoice, which produces Coachella, the best-attended and highest-grossing music festival in the world.
Opposed to the festival are groups including the California Native Plant Society, the Urban Wildlands Group, the Endangered Habitats League and six Audubon chapters led by the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society.
“We’re being characterized by opponents as irresponsible, not mindful, and that somehow our actual intentions are not good,” said producer Tim Sexton, principal of the Make Good Group, which promotes itself as “a collaborative brand strategy and creative team that helps organizations reposition and redefine themselves.”
The company’s website notes that it has worked with such diverse enterprises as American Idol, the Philadelphia Eagles and PG&E to do everything from cause-related marketing to crisis management.
Sexton said his company’s goal with AngelFest is “to help make a positive difference in that area with three days of music.”
“Right now, it’s loaded with problems that can’t be solved by the city parks department without money,” he said. “The wildlife habitat is not as nice as it once was. There’s trash in the streams, sex and drug trafficking in the shrubs and no rangers in sight.”
“Yet,” he said, “the folks in opposition want to see us gone.”
Jim Houghton, a member of the board of directors of the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society, views the matter from a different perspective.
“The idea that a rock concert in the Sepulveda Basin is going to save Los Angeles — not exactly a backwater town — and elevate its stature in the world with biodegradable hot dog wrappers and diesel-fueled generators is baloney,” he said.
Music has always been at the center of every social justice movement. — Cindy Montanez, CEO of TreePeople


“The promoters and groups that support them do not have a stake in the Sepulveda Basin like we do,” he said. “It’s not the right place for a festival of this scale. If they want to put on a show, great, do it — but do it someplace else.”
Not everyone believes the threat is all that pressing. Cindy Montanez, chief executive officer of TreePeople, which has worked with the San Fernando Valley Audubon chapter on Sepulveda Basin restoration projects in the past, thinks the festival could “help a park that needs a lot of attention.”
“Music has always been at the center of every social justice movement,” she said. “At AngelFest, if, say, the Rolling Stones say, ‘Let’s plant more trees!’ the message will go farther than anything we could ever do.”
The idea that a rock concert in the Sepulveda Basin is going to save Los Angeles...with biodegradable hot dog wrappers and diesel-fueled generators is baloney. — Jim Houghton, San Fernando Valley Audubon Society


An environmental assessment conducted on behalf of the Department of Recreation and Parks found the festival would cause no significant damage to the environment or surrounding community.
The promoters say the event will operate under aggressive recycling guidelines including that food and beverages be served in compostable packaging and that festival generators be powered by biofuels. Plastic bottles and bags will be banned from the festival grounds.
But ongoing petition drives demonstrate polarization.
So far, a petition in support of Angelfest has collected almost 10,000 signatures.
A petition opposed to Angelfest has gathered roughly 6,000.
In a letter to the Army Corps, Kris Olencamp, a spokesman for San Fernando Valley Audubon, said “this turmoil could have been prevented” if city parks officials had consulted with local Audubon members and the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee in the early phases of the process.

That rankles Irma Munoz, president of Mujeres de la Tierra, which supports the event.

“I find it offensive that some groups feel they own that space and have the right to determine who can use it,” Munoz said. “They don’t have that right. It’s public land supported by public tax dollars.”
Jonathan Parfrey, chief executive of Climate Resolve — a nonprofit “dedicated to creating real, practical solutions to meet the climate challenge while building a better city for Angelenos” — urges a see-what-happens approach.
“I say let’s try it out for the first year — if there are problems with the natural environment we’ll have learned a lesson,” he said. “But if it works, I’m in favor of it.”

Bob93447

The one advantage that I can think of is that all the brush clearance to make parking spaces will make it easier to find downed aircraft.

On the other hand, the downsides are considerable. The runway may or may not be damaged from parking vehicles on it. The facilities that the Valley Flyers installed with a considerable investment of both dollars and sweat are subject to vandalism. Will the show sponsor insure against losses? And if the show is successful, then we can anticipate losing flying privileges two or three times a year for extended periods.

rcphotog

We'll be picking up hypodermic needles from those pot smokin', tree-huggin', drug addict, hypocrite liberals for years to come!
What about the "carbon footprint"!
....oh the humanity!

Bob93447

A young man instructing an older person made an incredible save yesterday( 11-5-2016) when the student shed a wing during a snap roll. The instructor did about two laps around the field doing Knife edge flight then did a perfect landing by snapping the plane horizontal just before touchdown. Several people said that they had videos which they were going to post to YouTube but I haven't been able to find the videos yet. If someone finds the video please post the location here as many will enjoy this incredible save.

MikeRuth

Any news on the condition of the field after yesterdays torrential down pour?

BTW someone said they were approached and asked for the FAA registration, but didn't ask for ID, that's not escalating the situation at all. Any federal Employee would be more than glad to show there official ID. And in this freaking crazy world, I wanna see the ID myself, than have a casual no confrontational talk. Mike R