Field Congestion

Field Congestion (Full Version)

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Zpat -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 4:55:43 PM)
What would you guys do with this problem? A normal day at the flying field would consist of giant aerobats, 3D fun flys, small and not so small electrics, ducted fans, helicopters, gliders, and pattern aircraft. We're all in the sky doing our thing and it gets pretty hairy. I've had to land over the top of an auto rotating chopper, my tail wheel snagged the glider winch line on take off, and we had a head on with a 40% extra and a GWS foam mustang ( the extra won). The field is 800' x 150' of sod. Let's hear some ideas on field set up so we can all do our own thing with without running into each other.

amcross -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 5:01:58 PM)
Zpat, Some fields I've attended, esp during fun fly and other busy events, ask pilots to take turns flying like models at one time. So the aerobats get 15 minutes, then the gliders, then.... also, many fields have a heli pad and glider launch area that is 90 degrees to the fixed wing runway to help avoid your landing wire problem and such.... at some fields, the giant scale pilots make an unofficial "deal" with the club that htey will fly, lets say, sunday afternoons and the field is politely "given" to htem for those time frames, in turn for them not doing aerobatics over the runway while others are trying to fly at the same time.

P-51B -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 5:03:45 PM)
We limit the number of planes in the sky to four at one club I belong to.

stang51 -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 5:57:02 PM)
First we limit the number of aircraft in the sky to 6 maximum. We ask every pilot to limit their flight to about 10 minutes if it is busy. We divide the flying area into 4 quadrants and if you are going to "turn and burn" stay in that quadrant away from the runway. We ask all the pilots to use an approach pattern so everyone knows where the others fliers are and for the pilots to call out "landing" or go-around" as they are coming in. or if they abort their landing. The runway is only for take off/landing; no low screaming low passes when others are up. We have the pilot boxes about ten feet apart and strongly encourage the pilots to talk with the other pilots standing near them to let them know what they are doing. We find that with a little communication and disciplined flying there isn't too much of a problem and we all get our aircraft on the ground safely. (well, most of the time)

Luke 3D returns -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 6:10:42 PM)
One solution in my club was the chairman banned all the types of flying he didnt do- prophanging, low fast passes, and 3d aerobatics in general. You can guess what some people think of him! Would love to see a pic of the 40% extra head on with GWS Mustang. The term "swat" springs to mind.

FLYBOY -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 8:39:50 PM)
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Luke 3D returns One solution in my club was the chairman banned all the types of flying he didnt do- prophanging, low fast passes, and 3d aerobatics in general. [/QUOTE] We had a guy like that, so I taught the others to do what he hated and now everyone does it! hahahahahahaha :p

Borzak -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 8:56:47 PM)
We limit the number of planes in the air to 4, 5 if you are willing to fly way off to the side out of the pattern (which usually means a heli).

MustangFan -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 9:42:31 PM)
Some good suggestions. Could also have all pilots fly the same "Pattern". For example, if you take off right to left, everyone fly in a clockwise pattern (viewed from the top of course) without zig-zagging across the field. Keeps mid-airs to a minimum and eliminates some chaos. If there is only one plane, he can do as he pleases.

Luke 3D returns -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 9:59:29 PM)
Keeping to the circuit makes flying boring and not worthwhile, even though it saves planes. Most good flyiers dont just fly round in circles.

amcross -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 10:15:09 PM)
Yes, the "fly the pattern" approach seems to be a common attempt which doesnt last long at most fields as it drives away the better pilots....

FLYBOY -> Field Congestion (8/19/2003 10:31:29 PM)
It is very nice to have a caller stand next to you when it is congested to keep track of other traffic for you. I tend to have one no matter how many planes are in the air if one is available. Got used to it flying the circut and never stopped. The only time I don't is if I am on the slope with just a couple of friends, but then we are usually dogfighting anyway or flying formation.

Low Wing -> Now yer gringing my axe (8/20/2003 12:53:44 AM)
1.) Find another field... 2.) Set up a timer bell (for 8 minute's)...when it sounds the four or five pilots on the line land and the next 4-5 go up... 3.) Aero-batic guy's(as far as direction) fly the back of the field and everybody else fly circles closer in... 4.) Fly during the week... 5.) Tell them a new field just opened down the road (this will only work once) and they are giving away R/C stuff...while their gone block the road the leads back into the field your at... 6.) kick everybody's @$$ and tell em to go home... :D

Jim_McIntyre -> Re: Now yer gringing my axe (8/20/2003 1:11:20 AM)
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Low Wing 3.) Aero-batic guy's(as far as direction) fly the back of the field and everybody else fly circles closer in... [/QUOTE] ... and lower. Pretty much how it works at our field. Problem is it still gets congested when several aerobatic types go up simultaneously. Lucily we know each other and can co-ordinate well. :cool: Helis are a different matter. Most decent heli flyers can mix well with the traffic but a handfull of fixed-wing-only flyers are intimidated by them. We try to accomodate them whenever we can but free time at the field is often limited for us "married with children" types. :(

Borzak -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 1:19:51 AM)
4-5 planes at medium field is easily doable. It's only a problem when one guy/gal flying must fly from one end to the other of the field every 20 seconds at multiple altitudes. It's like you get a part of the sky but one person thinks you must give them the right away for the whole field while up.

Jim_McIntyre -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 1:24:19 AM)
Most of those "centre stage" types in my area fly warbirds. Now, I have nothing against warbirds (in fact I own a few) but, just how many 'straffing runs followed by victory rolls' does one person have to do in one flight. :rolleyes:

scottrc -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 1:31:33 AM)
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jim_McIntyre Most of those "centre stage" types in my area fly warbirds. Now, I have nothing against warbirds (in fact I own a few) but, just how many 'straffing runs followed by victory rolls' does one person have to do in one flight. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Hey, We're consistant and go in one direction. ;)

Jim Messer -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 1:52:22 AM)
We don't have a problem at our field. Four in the air is maximum, and that is limited by the number of flight stations. We have two runways, one NS, and the other EW. If the airplanes are using the NS runway, then the helicopters are flown from a pad at the west end of the EW runway. If the airplanes are using the EW runway, then the choppers are flown at the south end of the NS runway. This works out well, and the two types of models are hardly ever in each others way.

Jim_McIntyre -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 5:47:39 PM)
We just don't have room for that at our field. We did set up a seperate hover practice/setup area for helis and that took the strain off the flightline. Once the pilot and the bird are ready, they join the regular flightline. When someone wants to do an extremed 3d flight (fixed-wing or heli), they generally ask for a free field for 10 minutes and the rest of us relax and enjoy the show. :cool: What size clubs are feeling the congestion? Our club: ~80 members, max 4 in the air, average 15 flyers at the field with 30-40 being a busy day.

MustangFan -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 6:46:11 PM)
Flying a "pattern" doesn't preclude doing aerobatics. Do one maneuver in the front leg, another in the back leg, one at the left side (stall turn), one at the right side ..... etc.. It just keeps two planes from going both ways in the front leg (head on). Not fool-proof ( but how CAN you compensate for a fool) , but better than chaos. But thats just my opinion ... I could be wrong ! (Dennis Miller) Each club must sort out their own system(s) Keep it safe ...

ProfLooney -> flying the pattern (8/20/2003 8:21:06 PM)
at several clubs i belonged to everyone flew the pattern and the 3d and heli ppl that wanted to hover had an area of their own to do that in. the hard part is keeping the heil and 3d guys from hovering over the runway. the responsible ones dont do it but there are those that like to hover over the runway and we have had people call for landiongs or takeoffs and you get those few pilots refusing to make room. we flew the pattern with a special area for the hovering types and never had a problem wioth several planes in the air at once as those in the pattern are up high and those hovering down low. and those that like to hog the runway make perfect targets hehehe ever see what a 45 lb warbird can do to a hovering Extra that refuses to open the runway for landing :0) lets just say it took abt 2 hrs in the shop to fix the warbird and 2 hours at the field to find all the pieces of the Extra Joe

r1morris -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 9:02:13 PM)
I don�t worry bout no congestion. Built me one of them Pizza box thingies with a weed wacker engine up front. I go all over the sky. I hit em they go down baby. But my real secret people remover is Clarence he does the trick real fast. Ya see Clarence is my full growed pet Skunk. Man he hits the pits and everyone scatters. Clarence is for rent if anyone�s interested.

krayzc-RCU -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 9:34:10 PM)
wow i have the field to myself everytinme i go out as one ever comes out to our field and fly but me. we do have a limit of 1 aircraft in the air a at time. i am located in Greenville, North Carolina

Jim_McIntyre -> Field Congestion (8/20/2003 11:59:32 PM)
[QUOTE]Originally posted by MustangFan Flying a "pattern" doesn't preclude doing aerobatics. Do one maneuver in the front leg, another in the back leg, one at the left side (stall turn), one at the right side ..... etc.. [/QUOTE] Guy does a loop in the pattern and SMACK! Right through the guy behind him in the pattern. Seen it too many times. :( When there are several up, you may get away with a roll or snap in the pattern but other maneuvers are to be above and/or beyond the circuit.

ARTF -> Field Congestion (8/22/2003 1:43:40 AM)
Our club has a 5 up at a time limit (although sometimes ignored) fortunatly (!) our field has a fence at each end of the 100ft runway, so no 40%er's or large scale in the sky! Heli's have to go on sat, f/w get the rest of the time :D. Prop hanging is allowed, over the forrest behind the flight line - it's not a very popular manouver at our club! We do however rely on the pilots talking to each other, and common sense. As with full size (gliders anyway) the lower performance model always has priority especially if the pilot is less expericenced. We also train through the day without trouble as the trainers are flown at above normal circuit height for most of the training, then for take off and landing practice the instructor keeps in contact with the other pilots. All the pilots are in 1 box as close together as practical so they can communicate easily. Anyone shouting deadstick gets instant priority. This does mean that us flyers who can, tend to fly lower (at tree top height in my case) which is clear of frail leccy gliders or trainers (and alot more fun!) Will

troyp -> Field Congestion (8/22/2003 2:27:13 AM)
We only have 5 members in our club with a one plane in the air at a time rule. Well its not really a rule but more so that we arent really experienced enough yet to fly with another plane in the air. Unfortunately we dont have any helicopters in our club, as I would enjoy watching one fly.

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