What happens to the free flying sites todays flyers are enjoying when the property owner finds himself the subject of a personal injury lawsuit?

most, if not all, of those sites are already covered under existing school district, city, or county general liability policies, at least here in Texas. same policies that cover them if some kids playing baseball, basketball, tennis, or any other unorganized sport on their property manage to harm themselves.

Yup, that about covers the modelers using property owned by public entities in TX, whose liability is limited by PL anyway as in CA and many other states. Texas has also limited the liability of private landowners that make their property available to modelers, having extended the 'recreational use statute' that has long applied to hunting, fishing and other recreational uses to them a few years ago. CA has some catching up to do with TX in that regard. OTOH, it ain't so damned hot out here, even on the fringes of the Sonora Desert.

cj

I was 14 when I started in RC flying, and remember what one experienced club member told me "If you build your aircraft correctly and learn to fly properly then you won't crash"

Great advice for anyone. and I now have over 30 years crash free with RC fixed wing aircraft to support it.

Build corretly is great advice , for the building years , 75% of what is showing up is an arf that you assemble .

Sorry about that, friend. If you have not crashed in 30 years, you are missing all the fun. Shucks, man, I bet some some of the RCers could show you how it's done
HA HA HA!

Bingo Red! We are losing a diesel scratch builder due to poor health at our club, and we hope to replace him with at least a foamy pilot. If this doesn't prove that the movie idiocracy spoke the truth about our dumbed down future, than just what will???

This about sums up the situation.

but why so close minded ? if the foamy guy learns to love Rc , can he evolve to more and better involvement in RC ?? and you wonder why this thread even started lol . I have built everything from Gulliows to Pica , and welcome anyone and anything to the field , but as I originally stated in my post , its not the AMA but the its the club members that will dictate the future of who and how many particiapte in formal RC membership . If you welcome people they will join , if you take take attitude of scartch build vs kit , KIT vs arf , ARF wood vs ARF on foam lol , we can draw the lines all day long . But the ladys club full of drama is why many of us are at the Rc Field , and that is to advoid drama , so welcome everyone and you wont need to wonder or create threads like this at all .
This is one of my foamys below , I dummmmmed it way down based on the fact that its made of foam , I can post my FW190 made of glass and wood if that gets me into the club lol , that one also has a scratch built interior and power canopy .

Corsair final assembly 003 - YouTube► 1:50► 1:50
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LoMQKFQiV8
4 days ago - Uploaded by ldmegret1984
0:55. Watch Later Folding wings UAV & Camera on a balloon. Evergreen Unmanned Sys UAV ...

How many organizations do you know of that spend 70-80% of their income on the salaries and travel expenses of the people who work for the organization and NOT the membership? Salaries in AMA are $3-4 million a year, are they not? If you know the answer to this question, and are not just guessing, please tell us. When I wrote Mr. Cherry years ago, he told me salaries were $2.5 million, and that was back then.

Look up any Fly-in with in 100 miles and plan to attend even if just as a spectator. The Arizona Model Aviators have 6 major events from Jets to electric to scale all winter. Just attended Friday out of 5 day event in Fon Du Lac Wi. War Birds and Classics over the mid west. 1/4 mile x 300'+ Runway with tents and giant scale planes the full length. In some places there were 6 to 8 planes in front of a single tents. Estimate over 250 Giant Scale. may be 150+ pilots. This goes on all summer long all over America. U just have to look. Sure U can fly your Park flyer in a park by your self. But the Hobby is more about commodery than flying anyway. Try it You'll like it.

commodery? yall might wana be paying a little closer attention to just what yall be eating and how it is prepared if yall be spending most of yer time as comrades in the commode.

Happy for U Really don't need Loaners that don't know how to follow rules and basic safety at an organized flying site.

Hey guys we are really learning how to use this new site....text all in red, some black (bold) and even large print! Who sez we ain't a sharp as we used to be?

How about something positive about the AMA for a change?

The Cloud Busters RC Flying Club of Keystone Heights

After being shut down in late Aug of 2007 by the airport authority, We had the chance and decided to get organized as an official club. This is what the Airpark wanted - and it was a good move. The New club has formed from the many people who have flown at the Keystone Airpark for many years. Recently we felt the need to form and come under AMA guild lines. This has been a very positive change for RC flight in the Area and has increased the number of pilots that have been showing up and joining the club.

The site is an absolutely perfect flying field with both paved and mowed grass runways. There is plenty of wide open sky and very little if any obstruction from tress or other obstacles. Since forming as a club we have set up pilot boxes and a frequency board. The field is protected by a large fence and access is granted thru a key pad gate system. Gate key codes are issued once a person becomes a member and is released to fly solo. For more info about becoming a member, click thru to the club web site from the link above.

Just jumping into the fray on this (which I may regret ), but I think LDM hit this more or less on the head (and no, I did not read through all 100+ pages of this thread - so sorry if I am repeating a point).

I know a lot of guys in the hobby who fit the same profile as myself - baby boomers who grew up during the post WWII/space race era when all things aviation were "cool". We built kits stick and tissue kits because that was more or less the only way to build a flying model. There were very high initial barriers in time, cost, and skills you had to overcome in order to get into the hobby. But we are a dying breed (quite literally, I am sad to say).

The younger generations have grown up with entirely new ideas about what is fun and what is cool. They are used to technology driven entertainment that, by design, has low initial barriers to entry. You pick up a video game and you start having fun right now. We can all lament for the good old days, but if the hobby is grow and survive, it must grow and survive with the times. As LDM points out, there are new entry paths to the hobby that lower all the traditional entry barriers. This is a good thing! But we need to do more to embrace, encourage, and especially to respect those entry paths. Don't look down on the foamy ARF flyer as he is the future (and his flying skills just might put you to shame too!).

Oh and BTW, check out some of the amazing stuff going on with foamy scratch builds these days ... it may change your mind about the medium!

Great post! I see you get it! Demeaning other hobbyists for not being in lockstep with "the organization" as so many others here do, is so very counter productive... glad to see someone else here that understands that...awesome... Please stick around...

re+1 I could not agree more !! There is even a great thread on RCU , I think the title is "unboxing and flying the Parkzone P51 mini " something like that .
It was going dead , no comments , no interest and tons of misperceptions .The good news was , nothing mean was said but the clearly some stated the misconception or reason for simply sitting on the side line was foam lol .
When I watched the video of the guy flying the tiny P51 and then the tiny jet , I was amazed at his skill to fly what I built when I was 16 out of sticks and tissue, now come to life in high performance foam !!! It really is amazing .

Also I am 100% from old school at 53 , but 100% self taught at RC everything from glow to gas to now epower and giant epower . When I say slef taught , I need to give credit to RCU and RC GRoups to the wonderful members of tips from anything under the sun .

I dont get involved with the politics of RC , dont have time and spent over 15 years with the POLITICS of USA Hockey , and I did an damm good job based on my elevation in my own club . So i know how to handle the best and worse in people but I know for a fact as stated earlier , the club , any club is best PR for any membership and long term growth of any agenda .

Make people feel welcome, accepted , respected and you will need to cut membership off due to the growth, make people feel excluded , inferior, outsiders and judged and soon your club with age itslef out of existance .
Sincerly I trevel the USA in my position , I visit more hobby shops in my free time then probably hobby reps , and the common thing i read on Hobby SHop reviews that kills a shop is not price , but friendly servace . So again imagine that , Its not Tower, its not China , its the servace of the shop = friednly welcoming people .
JUst last week I went to FRanks Hobby in Phoneix , the reviews are horrible based on the two guys at the car counter , but if you meet the old guy at the RC PLane side , he will ask you a 100 times if he can help you , Totally 100% service . BUt who do you think is meeting more younger and possibly mom ??? its the kid with his mom at the RC Car /Truck counter . YOU know I even went out of my to say hello to the guy at the car counter and yes be was emotionally drained by his ability to sit upright in a chair , and no he did not say hello lol .
And by the way , its a great shop for supporting the RC hobby with parts ect .

Now go to MN and three shops thrive in a 20 mile radius but you will find people that know me by first name and I live in Phila , three great examples of service , welcome attitude , and how can we help !!!! All related to the perpetuation of not only there shops but the AMA and the hobby

Isn't that exactly how should be?? Glad to see you have deeper thoughts than some of the other narrow minded conditioned responders. If it weren't for many of advents of the last couple of decades such as 3d, electric, FPV and giant scale...to name a few... AMA would probably only be a shadow of its current self. Like I've said many times, Grow the hobby... AMA will be just fine... Pushing AMA down everyone's throat is so very distasteful to people... Makes me want to throw up!

Well I have to agree if you grow the hobby , everything else wil grow with it .
As I stated earlier I know quite a few kids that started with foam , never joined the AMA or a club , evloved to glow and flew at larger school fields ect , and then grew into glow/gas larger planes , joined the club scene and the AMA .
It was all a part of the desire and love to fly models vs the need to to "join somthing "
It happened in a natural sucesssion on progressively wanting bigger and better models .

Like any other business or non-profit, you need to PUBLICIZE role models.

That , of course, inspires multitudes to follow course.

I'm obviously biased since this is my son, but building a record- breaking Giant RC airplane from plans at 16 years old?

This video he put together documents his NOT BELIEVABLE achievement. . If you find the music too much, like me, You are the problem. Young people, like all of us when we were young, have their own music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSuLz...yer_detailpage

Awesome! Really enjoyed that! Thanks for posting...

I know many, including myself, that claim to be "modelers" that haven't achieved such a fine build...matter of fact I've found quite the opposite to be true all to often...those that claim to be "modelers" that have achieved very little in regards to such fine projects as your sons...and yes, I include myself.... Your son makes me want to do more... he must have a great dad. Very good!

Now that the AMA has seen two consecutive years of growth, is this whole discussion moot?

I got my love for miniature, flying airplanes when my Dad brought me to the local hobby shop when I was 9 or 10 years old. Unfortunately, he was dis-abled in a mining accident and we were on social assistance so we could look, but couldn't buy. His injuries did him in when I was 13. That spring, during final exams, if you did well enough on your mid-term, you got an automatic pass to the next grade. So when everyone else was doing exams, us nerds were instructed to go to the local hobby shop and pick up a free, "package". It consisted of your choice of a Guillows kit to build. All of the necessary tools and glue and pins etc. were provided. The building board was a soft, paper type ceiling tile. Worked great.

The girls got to do embroidery. Two of those girls insisted on building models and that wasn't a problem for anyone.

The teacher was a private pilot and the school board provided the funds.

That Fall, I entered High School and while walking home on my first day, I came upon an amazing sight. An older man and his son were loading up a collection of free-flight planes. You bet, I stopped to chat and off I went with them to the local, flying site which was an old, tailings area. In the mining industry, "tailings" is what's called the muck that they discharge after the gold bearing rock is crushed and the gold extracted. It's like quicksand, off limits to man and beast. But when the tailings mature, (20 to 30 years) they become firm and accessible and smooth, just like a salt flats.

We never had to cut any ole grass, we parked on the other side of a creek and crossed a make shift bridge. The "pits" were set up according to the wind direction, this WAS free-flight after all.


We had a half dozen flyers for many years, some would leave, new fellows would join us, all by word of mouth. By then, that hobby shop closed,,,, it was a combo toy and hobby shop, was there for decades and the owner simply retired.

I wondered why there wasn't a club and was told, no need, what more could you want?

Well, by my early 20s, I decided we should have a club and with just two more agreeing, we formed that first club. I did my stint as Prez for a half dozen years and by then, our numbers had grown to 15 with 5 regular die-hards. You all know how that works,,, seems like that's the way it is, all over the world. And that's OK.

My story is likely very typical, it was the 60s and 70s and the world was VERY much different back then.

Exposure to the hobby has grown by leaps and bounds not possible to imagine back then. The Internet and Youtube and social media is what drives much of that exposure. What youngster could't HELP but be inspired by the offerings on YT about our hobby. In the old days, static pictures in a magazine really didn't do justice to what we love to do. Imagine a ten year old coming across one of the pros in heli 3D flying on Youtube. Or the incredible, scale meets and monster scale, 3D planes.

Those youngsters will pick up the typical, Walmart offerings and get a small taste. That can easily become a craving for more. I've seen it first hand, at the local park. The next thing you know, they're at the local hobby shop, selecting one of the offerings and yes, many times it will be a plug and fly. From there, after learning to fly, they may go on to other thigs but can just as likely want to get more invovlved. Assemble an ARF. Maybe one day, build a kit.

Personally, I think that things have changed for the better and it doesn't really NEED a club. There are a great many small towns with populations too small for a local hobby shop OR a club. Most of these towns will have a park or even empty lots. And all it takes is one adult who loves indoor RC and the kids will flock to the local gym, once the word gets around.

It was great back then, and it's STILL great.

Just enjoy, be happy.

Ynot , i agree with you on several points. The thing i think is the biggest waste of time is sitting kids down at a table and have them spend a lot of time building the AMA's delta flyer " i think that's what it's called" . i think their short attention span would be better served cultivated what each one's interests are . Also setting kids down in front of a flight sim is ok to give them a feel for flying R/C but that also has it's downsides. after all those are the kinds of things you trying to drag the youth of this country away from . I think a lot of clubs get so wrapped up in the "do not do's" that they lose site of the fact that's it's a hobby and it's supposed to be fun. i always got great satisfaction out of making a box of wood fly. As far as a license goes ... i think a lot of clubs forget to push the fact that if your under 18 , AMA IS FREE! I recently did a presentation for some kids this summer and after explaining the basics of the hobby , i let them ask the questions and when you let them interact it's a lot more fun. Getting onto the old cronies that sit perched on the telephone wires just waiting for someone to screw up i say get a different hobby. I have been to some events/fields that had me so preoccupied with staying within the confines of the area that i just packed up and left because it wasn't fun anymore to fly there and all of them were the old cronies . it's no wonder things are the way they are. WB_1