Recycling unloved, crippled or even dead RTF planes.
05-11-2003, 09:38 AM
#1
Recycling unloved, crippled or even dead RTF planes.
I am testing an idea and would appreciate your feedback.
What if my club were to sponsor a program to gather unloved low-end RTF planes to create a youth program to get kids involved in flying? Do you think people would participate?
My thinking is to base this on the Firebird type planes that are sold as RTF packages. A lot of these end up in the basement broken, or the won't fly straight or just unloved. Would people donate them to a youth program? Heaven knows I don't need injured planes for myself. In fact, if this works, I will need to find a place to house this stuff.
Many flyers got started with these planes, then moved on to more advanced planes and the old 2 channel is basically discarded, not worth fixing, but perhaps never tossed out. There are a whole bunch of these similar planes from different companies. I think the core fuselage is made by one company in China. These include the Firebird, Firebird II, Firebird XL, Fighterbird, e-gull, T-hawk, Vector, Sparrow and other of these types. They are all of similar configuration.
We would need the whole package; transmitter, plane, electronics, wing, battery and the charger. The Firebird series even comes with a video. We will gather them up, use parts from one to fix another until they were flying. Then they would be used to get kids into flying. These are not for me.
Do you think this would work? If you think this is a good idea for a program, post your thoughts.
I could ask my club, the Long Island Silent Flyers, if I can organize this under the club. We are a glider and electrics club, so this would fit into our charter. I am sure there are other clubs around who might do the same thing. www.lisf.org I might even send a proposal to AMA that a program like this, based on unloved RTFs might be sponsored under the AMA.
Give me some feed back on this please. Could this work?
What if my club were to sponsor a program to gather unloved low-end RTF planes to create a youth program to get kids involved in flying? Do you think people would participate?
My thinking is to base this on the Firebird type planes that are sold as RTF packages. A lot of these end up in the basement broken, or the won't fly straight or just unloved. Would people donate them to a youth program? Heaven knows I don't need injured planes for myself. In fact, if this works, I will need to find a place to house this stuff.
Many flyers got started with these planes, then moved on to more advanced planes and the old 2 channel is basically discarded, not worth fixing, but perhaps never tossed out. There are a whole bunch of these similar planes from different companies. I think the core fuselage is made by one company in China. These include the Firebird, Firebird II, Firebird XL, Fighterbird, e-gull, T-hawk, Vector, Sparrow and other of these types. They are all of similar configuration.
We would need the whole package; transmitter, plane, electronics, wing, battery and the charger. The Firebird series even comes with a video. We will gather them up, use parts from one to fix another until they were flying. Then they would be used to get kids into flying. These are not for me.
Do you think this would work? If you think this is a good idea for a program, post your thoughts.
I could ask my club, the Long Island Silent Flyers, if I can organize this under the club. We are a glider and electrics club, so this would fit into our charter. I am sure there are other clubs around who might do the same thing. www.lisf.org I might even send a proposal to AMA that a program like this, based on unloved RTFs might be sponsored under the AMA.
Give me some feed back on this please. Could this work?
05-11-2003, 01:08 PM
#2
Recycling unloved, crippled or even dead RTF planes.
I like the idea but limiting it to just that type of plane may not get you enough stuff to mix and match. If you opened it up to most if not all of the RTF 2 channel plane it might generate enough bits and pieces to do something with.
Would you turn away a bunch of 280 motors just because they are not the ones that came with the Fire Bird? I think it would be a good idea to have person in charge of the parts to keep or toss the stuff that is donated. He may throw away a god deal but there would be enough to get a entry level and say an advanced level of planes going.
You might even get people who would give you the usable parts of a Tiger Moth, Zero's and the list of the foam park flyers. I think it would be a better idea to say limit it to park flyer size electric planes.
Just my opinion.
Dru.
P.S. I wuold give to my club to help out.
Would you turn away a bunch of 280 motors just because they are not the ones that came with the Fire Bird? I think it would be a good idea to have person in charge of the parts to keep or toss the stuff that is donated. He may throw away a god deal but there would be enough to get a entry level and say an advanced level of planes going.
You might even get people who would give you the usable parts of a Tiger Moth, Zero's and the list of the foam park flyers. I think it would be a better idea to say limit it to park flyer size electric planes.
Just my opinion.
Dru.
P.S. I wuold give to my club to help out.
05-11-2003, 02:55 PM
#3
Recycling unloved, crippled or even dead RTF planes.
Thanks for the feedback.
My only reason for focusing on this particular group of planes is that there are so many of them out there. And, since they are typically first time purchases, many are used a few times then put on the shelf. Or they take some serious hit and the person is not willing repair or rebuild.
However, I didn't think of people donating parts. That might be interesting.
In any case, I will see what kind of response I get on the forum. I am looking for the forum people to be my sounding board before I go to the club.
Thanks for your ideas.
My only reason for focusing on this particular group of planes is that there are so many of them out there. And, since they are typically first time purchases, many are used a few times then put on the shelf. Or they take some serious hit and the person is not willing repair or rebuild.
However, I didn't think of people donating parts. That might be interesting.
In any case, I will see what kind of response I get on the forum. I am looking for the forum people to be my sounding board before I go to the club.
Thanks for your ideas.
05-11-2003, 08:07 PM
#4
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Recycling unloved, crippled or even dead RTF planes.
Sounds like a great Idea! I'm sure the site here would deliver you lots of support with old planes and also just by getting the word out. I'm also interested to see how this works out for you. There is a local rc club here that I could possably get involved into a similar program. Nice to hear that there are still people out there that think of others and not just themselves.
