jse

My Feedback: (1)

I'm interested in getting started in this hobby. I've been looking at the Parkflyer's Cessna 182 as my first aircraft. My question is really: where can I fly this thing? There is a soccer field very close to my house that looks like a perfect spot. As long as the field is empty am I allowed to fly this in any public field?
I visited another large park (scouting out places to fly) and as I drove into the park there was a sign posted that said "No model planes, rockets or boats allowed." I couldn't believe it. Is that pretty typical for public parks? Where do you tend to fly your small electirc planes?

Thanks for the help.
Joel

jmir

My Feedback: (1)

I have flown my Parkflyers Cessna 182 at various places:

1- One of the local churches is located next to a 20 acre open field. I use the church's parking lot to take off and land and just fly over the large open field.

2 - My neighboor has a 10 acre field in front of his house (we live in the outskirts of a small rural city) and he lets me fly my airplane there. There are lots of trees around this field, so I'm always a little nervous about those trees, especially if it's windy.

3 - The best place for me has been at the county's sports complex where 4 acres of land has been cleared for a landing strip where large gas airplanes are flown. I just go early in the morning or late in the evenings when there is hardly any wind and fly my Cessna there.

By the way, you will love this Cessna. I learned on the 3-channel one and now own the 4-channel version. Both fly and look great.
Just make sure you get them way up high before you get crazy with it so you have time to recover from those pilot error routines!

Have fun!

Jmir

Dr.Watson

My Feedback: (10)

i usually fly all my stuff like my slow stick and PT-17 in a 2 acre field right next my my high school. i use the parking lot to take off and land.

i also use the elementary school's kickball field for my slow stick.

yamakawazuki

My Feedback: (1)

i fly at my local soccer field, with no problems. i am out there at sunrise so no one is around, also there is very little wind that time of day.

AeroCat

My Feedback: (2)

At my local club field. 10 mins from my house.

Aerial photo. You can barely make out the runway. It's a great field...but planes and trees are magnets.
http://www.electricflyers.com/Web%20...toourfield.htm

jse

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, guys, for the replies. I'll give the local soccer field a try (when no one is around).

Jmir, glad to hear you are happy with the Cessna. I can't wait to order mine. Just waiting for the dog-days of Houston summer to end here.

Joel

Ranfred Radius

My Feedback: (8)

This is my flying sight. It's right at the end of my driveway.

Randy[img][/img]

skid_68

My Feedback: (1)

I fly at a couple of local school yards(when no one is around of course) and a park. I pick wich one based on how many people are around. I dont want to get anybody mad.

I must say though, if you arent experienced in RC flying, may I NOT suggest the cessna as your first plane. I made the same mistake, and it only lasted about 5 seconds . Slow stick is where its at for beginners, and I will recommend AGAIN, practice on the FMS, you will thank me later. have fun

SAFZERO

I fly on Long Island about 15 minutes from my apartment. Just open space! Here's a pic. No runway though,

http://www.lisf.org/Pictures/29070035.jpg

SAF

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

jse, guys
Do yourself and all of us a favor. Ask permission first.
You fly without it and you may not only find yourself shut off, but you may be shutting off others. Respect the property owner, and you may find some added benefits, like additional fields they know about, and you may make a new flying buddy.
Show you can be trusted with the owners property, and you will get a lot further.
Want to take a guess why so many parks no longer allow flying.
I look at this from both sides of the issue, I fly on other's properties and I own large parcels of ground that others use. I treat other owners properties as my own and I expect the same from users of mine.

kuzikood

My Feedback: (2)

i walk out onto my front porch and let er go my porch is 8 foot of the ground and my front yard is over a acre of terraced grass


-kuzi-

jse

My Feedback: (1)

I can't imagine flying on someone's private property without asking first. The area I'm looking at to fly is a public soccer field. Not sure who to ask about that one. If no one is using it, that's when I'll be flying.

Me-109K4

My Feedback: (1)

I usually fly at a soccer field behind a school. Some days, like yesterday, they're having practice, so I go to a small open field 2 minutes down the street. A lot of times on the weekends there will be parents with their children playing at the playground, (at a very safe distance) and I'll get a small audience. It's really great to talk to the kids about it, and see their reactions, and they always let me know how good or bad my landings are. Hopefully I've influenced some future rc pilots along the way.

aflipz

My Feedback: (10)

I have TONS of flying fields within kilometers (and meters) of my montreal appartment (verdun, in my info, is a municipality of montreal, there have been fusions, and de-fusions, no one knows why, they just do... to distract attention from the real urban management issues i guess... but that's another story)

Here's the thing, i had no idea just how many until i looked down from... space!

And you
don't need anybody's permission to take a peak, In fact do it from the comfort of your home or office computer. Explanation; Download a program called google earth (by, guess who? Why google of course!) It allows you to see the whole planet, and zoom in on the part you are interested in. To give you an idea i recognize my car in it's parking spot... Anyway, once youre done doing rocket sounds zooming in and out on various parts of the planet and spinning the globe around you'll notice it's good for finding patches of obstacle free terrain too, among many other uses...

Then look in tools, look at that! You can measure the fields you found in any units of measure you want (meters for me, thank you!) And therefore establish reference points or landmarks that allow you to know precicely how far you can go! put the starting dot where you are standing normally and do a circle at the established distance around yourself, leaving less to guessing when you get there.

No, you can not use it to locate lost aircraft because it doesn't update very often (months, years...) , and rural, or inhabited areas are very low resolution compared to densely populated areas. the satellite image server is measured in terabytes allready...

If you are a beginner pilot try to choose a field that has at least 600 feet by 600 feet of unobstructed or allmost unobstructed space. Tall trees, power lines, light poles etc are the enemy. The bigger the field the better imho... more time to recover from errors and much much easyer to land. When you have to come in and loose a ton of altitude in short distance it makes approach much more challenging.


And in all honnesty the cessna 182 looks pretty good to start off right in the hobby... If you don't have a simulator yet you can configure a dual analog game joystic for use in FMS (flying model simulator) A free simulator program that did wonders for me. You can download thousands of different free plane models into it too! (the included planes are really too advanced) just google fms models

this hobby is addictive, now that you have been warned, welcome aboard!