Originally Posted by
mike1974
I am in a similar situation as Franklin. Baseball fields less than a block from my house and the Elementary School 1/4 mile away with lots of land to fly from. Plus I can fly from the top of a 1000 AGL hill 3.5 miles away with 20+ miles visibility. My club field is exactly 22 miles from my driveway to the club field. 14 of those miles are twisty, up and down back roads (beautiful drive). 44 miles round trip. I don't get there a lot, but it is where I fly all my glo planes and my 450 heli. It's also a beuatiful field in the middle of absolutely nowhere. It's nice to have a private field where you know you don't have to worry about anybody bothering you or getting in the way. It also gives me a comfortable place to teach my son to fly without any distractions. I guess I like having the best of both worlds; fields close to home and a private AMA field I can use whenever I want if I don't mind the drive. I will say my club dues are less than 1/2 what Franklin pays and that includes my sons junior membership.
A privately owned club out in the middle of nowhere...how sweet that must be. I see some of them out in the central and midwestern states with the huge crisscrossing runways and covered areas for the members, man that would be nice. One club I belong right by my house has dues of 25.00 which is a steal, however there is nothing there other than a port-o-john, the "field" is actually a turf farm. The main club I fly at is 80 to join, and 65 a year which I think is a steal as well considering what the club has. Over half our dues go to cutting the lawn.