ORIGINAL: rjbranchii
Norfolksouthern
I agree with your remise of rc flieds being more and more difficult to maintain and find. My RC club spent 2 years seeking a new field. The club that let us use their field spent the prior 2 years to that finding a new one, and the club that let them fly while they searched spent the 2 years prior to that doing the same thing. My club doesn't really have any big stuff in it and we have a strict 93db noise limit and everything must fly with a muffler that muffles. And we still all have a good time.
But from what I have seen that is not a major issue at least in my area bringing people back to CL. In fact 4 of the 4 clubs within 90 miles of Detroit that have CL facilities are RC clubs! The president of one of them is on of the top CL stunt fliers in the country! I actually came back because I found CL flying forums online and found that ARF's of competative planes existed.
bob
For one, C/L fields are considerably easier to acquire because the planes don't have any tendancy to wonder off like an R/C model can, so the public is less likely to worry. If a line breaks, the C/L plane goes down immediately. If a battery goes out in an R/C plane, the results can be severely unpredictable. I think another reason for C/L seeing more popularity is affordability, and lower upkeep. Not only that, but C/L derives a certain amount of pleasure that R/C can never duplicate. You actually have to do the flying in order to appreciate the sensation. I think part of the reason that all the C/L fields are at R/C clubs, is that the same amount of difficulty in getting a place to fly also applies to C/L in this particular area. Although I do know of one place in Flint where only C/L is flown.
Last Spring, there were quite a few folks who would run R/C model cars around our parking lot. They would do it just about every day, until it stopped completely. I once inquired about the possibility of running a model boat (an electric) in the duck pond here, but I was told that absolutely NO remote controlled vehicles are allowed to operate on the property. So that plan got shot down. Their answer to my quesiton suggested to me that it's probably a local ordinance, as I have never seen any type of model at or around any parks in my area. Certainly not Estes rockets either(are they considered as being like fireworks these days?)! So, I have to drive 20 miles to the nearest R/C field in order to see anything, and most of that is the giant 2-stroke gas stuff with an occasional kid and parent with a SkyFly or something similar. There are a few small nitros, but most of that is discouraged: "Bigger just flys better and is easier to see".
As for me, I had to get out of R/C because of my income, which consists of Social Security and is far below the poverty level. I am not even sure if I can afford C/L at this point, I would assume not just to be safe. Food, car repairs, socks, soap, toilet paper, the electric bill, the utilities, and rent come first I'm afraid. At least I get to enjoy reading about the fun folks have with the hobby, and look at the photos too. Which, obviously, is because I am blessed with having an internet connection. That's a lot better than nothing.
NorfolkSouthern