Kid, you can spin it how you want, but I personally feel the AMA would be benefitted by promoting the establishment of PP fields sponsered by AMA Clubs and open to both AMA and non AMA flyers.

The AMA would only insure the landowner, and AMA members. The non AMA flyers would have to cover any claims from there own resources or other insurance.

Now my evil plan is that this would both promote model aviation and grow both AMA membership and even regular AMA Club membership as the PP flyers progress in the sport.

Brad

I like it, a whole lot. I'm assuming in that you meant "AMA membership should not be a requirement to to fly at a PP field as long as the flyer is flying without AMA has individual insurance."
Now for the quibbling critique (in my business I don't just seek criticism, I thrive on it), I wouldn't tie it to PP fields as I think the days of the program behind them are shortly numbered. Better to expand the sponsorship to indie flying sites in general.

Cletus

The AMA presently hasno control over who flies at a flyng field. The landowner, be it a public or private entity, has exclusive power to say who does or does not have use of the facilities.

Surely you weren't suggesting that the AMA include non-AMA members in it's landowner coverage. I don't read your postto say that but otherwise I don't get the point of the post in general.

"Gents,
Looking to get an idea as to how many flying fields have been lost, what areas they were in, how many members or pilots have been affected and the reason or reasons why the field was lost...

Thanks in advance.
Hooked."


Just what does any of the last few post have anything to do with the OP? What am I missing here?
Mike

Umm.............a reply to your question?

Surely you know it already does.

I fail to see anything relevant in your post about lost fields. Have you lost yours? The only thing I see here is you and bradpaul posting to one another.
Mike

Sorry for spoiling your day, Mike. Hope tomorrow is better for you.

Cletus

You haven't spoiled anything. Continue on with your off topic posts. I'll just move along until something of value is posted. This seems to be the norm on this forum anyway.
Have a great afternoon.
Mike

York Area RC club in South Central PA has lost three fields in the past five years.

The first was a field of 13 years and was lost due to noise complaints from one neighbor. The club grew in both numbers and activity levels the last few years of using that location which contributed to losing that field.

The second was only used for one summer and again was lost due to one neighbor that lived almost a mile away complaining to the Township regarding noise.

The third was a PERFECT location except for difficult access due to a rough entrance road and a neighbor along that road complaining of the increased traffic on the entrance lane which was right along his property line and house. That field was lost due to the owners not paying taxes for many years and finally being foreclosed on.....the property was sold at auction and there is a slight chance of re-establishing a field with the new owners.

The club found a new location In June of this year and we have been flying since. Its not the ideal field but at least we are flying.

Steve

We just gave the owner of ours his usual spiral cut Xmas ham for another years rent on the field....

Two RC fields in OKC were moved.
The Baxter Field flyers original site on the Lake Stanley Draper Reservation was closed due to the opening of a new Police shooting range. They were located 2-3 miles farther south.
The Westside club orignally at NW 50th and Morgan road got a new paved runway right down the middle of their field 4 lanes wide and 14 miles long, the John Kilpatrick Turnpike around OKC. They moved to leased land 3 miles west of the old location.

Our CL park for life in central OKC Topping park is being destroyed for new interchange of I-44 and I-235. There was a lawyer that kept defending the land, which was given to the city as a flying park inperpetuity but he evidently gave up the fight.

The TORKS of OKC had a second field in some undeveloped land. But it fell out of favor with the club. The runway is still there:

&lt;iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&amp;source=s_q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp ;q=2038+West+Memorial+RD+OKC&amp;sll=35.606719,-97.539067&amp;sspn=0.00656,0.009624&amp;safe=on&am p;ie=UTF8&amp;hq=&amp;hnear=2038+W+Memorial+Rd,+Ok lahoma+City,+Oklahoma,+73134&amp;ll=35.606763,-97.539067&amp;spn=0.006559,0.009624&amp;t=h&amp;z= 17&amp;output=embed"></iframe&gt;
View Larger Map

And as documented else where around here my old club in Akron Ohio the Corsair Model Club is losing a site because the county parks department doesn't want noisey little airplanes flyin OVER park land.

"And as documented else where around here my old club in Akron Ohio the Corsair Model Club is losing a site because the county parks department doesn't want noisey little airplanes flyin OVER park land."



Giv'em the finger an go forth to new fields...[8D]

Grand Prairie Model Plane club (in TX) lost their field about 4 years ago... Housing developments were sprouting up too close to the model field. The club chose to relocate before an accident happened... I don' think we were kicked out, but it would have happened eventually. They even put a soccer field toward the end of our runway... [:@] At the time we probably had about 150 members.

I guess we know where you guys stand on the Ham vs Turkey poll

Some years ago, a club I belonged to was comprised of serious beer drinkers. We had been flying on a junior college parking lot, but got kicked out because of the beer drinking. In an instant the club became a bunch of blue-nose teetotalers. It was actually kind of funny.

I know of several clubs in the Grand Rapids, Mi. area who lost fields due to encroachment. One field was supposed to be leased to a club in perpetuity but after the owner who was also a flyer, died, his widow remarried and the new husband kicked the club out and made the area into a mini golf course.
Our club, The Charlevoix Area BUFFS own the property we fly on. However a parcel of land adjacent to the north end of our field was sold and the new owner keeps horses there. So far everything has been cool and calm, but I'm afraid it's just a matter of time before the little hobby rancher gets her dander up and raises a stink. Don't think she could do anything to stop us though.

Little update. Fallbrook Flyers has officially moved to the new field and across from Harrahs Rincon Casino, they were doing some final grading today and there is going to be 2 intersecting 600' runways when it is all done. The old field is still open and probably will be safe until summer.

May I suggest that you do not harbor that attitude? Horse people are usually very well off, financially. Court judgments are frequently won, not by justice, but more so by the cash that is, shall I say, "Shared"? [sm=greedy.gif] Overflight and/or retrieval of property i.e., model airplanes are good items that can be denied.

Good Luck!

The Mile Square Park one really [:@]. That area was used for more than just R/C. They also held many youth fuctions that related to A/C, rockets, and science. Now all of those kids are back on the streets instead of doing something productive, just so a bunch of "Great High Mucky Mucks" didn't have to wait as long for a tee time (there was already two courses in the park.)

A club in Pennsy is losing it's field because a non-member's plane crashed into a prison yard a half-mile away. Cops shut it down saying model planes are too dangerous and the town council will decide whether to terminate the lease. They want to make room for a dog park.

The link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/loca...lane-club.html


Congestion forces police chief to ground airplane club
TEXT SIZE By: CHRISTINA KRISTOFIC
The Intelligencer
The members of the Warminster-Glenside R/C Airplane Club have flown their planes at Turk Park 3 in Doylestown Township for nine years. No longer. The group's planes were recently grounded by the Doylestown Township police chief.

"I know a lot of these guys really look forward to being able to do this," Chief Stephen White said. "But (the area) is too congested. They need to find an area that isn't congested and fly there."

White said he decided to prohibit club members from flying their planes in the park after a couple of people, only one of whom can be linked to the club, crashed their model airplanes on the grounds of Bucks County Prison facilities.

Club president Joe Hudak said his club has very strict safety guidelines that all of the members follow, and he and the other members are trying to decide whether to fight the chief's decision. The club is also searching for a new place to fly.

But, Hudak said, "Fields are hard to come by. As you know, development is taking over and a lot of the open ground is being lost."

The county owns Turk Park 3, and leases it to Doylestown Township. The township has an agreement with the club, allowing the club to fly its planes at the park rent-free; and only the supervisors or the club can cancel the agreement. So the supervisors will vote on May 4 whether to make the chief's prohibition permanent.

The Warminster-Glenside R/C Airplane Club was founded in 1943, and members flew their planes at different fields in Montgomery and Bucks counties through the latter part of the 20th century. Hudak said the club flew at Moyer's Farm for years, until it was asked to leave.

The club found Turk Park 3 with help from the Bucks County Parks and Recreation Department, which also helped work out the rent-free lease for the club.

The club has about 80 members at peak flying season. All of them are men, and they range in age from 10 to the late 80s and include several father-son teams. They come from all over Bucks and Eastern Montgomery counties.

Some of the members fly model airplanes because they can't fly real ones. Others fly model planes because they enjoy building them or watching them do things real planes can't do.

"You can go up, you can fly, you can do loop-de-loops, all kinds of aerobatics," Hudak said.

The model airplanes have wing spans ranging from 20 inches to 6 feet. Some of the planes are gas-powered; others have electric motors.

"In nine years, we have never had an injury or loss of property," Hudak said. "There's been nothing. We've had basically a perfect record - so we thought."

On Nov. 29, a new member of the club lost control of his plane and it crashed on the driveway to the Bucks County Men's Community Corrections Center, which is across from Turk Park 3. The member cleaned up the parts of the airplane and left without incident.

Police responded to the rehabilitation facility. And upon investigation of the crash, police learned that there had been two other model airplane crashes.

Though no one was hurt and nothing but the plane was damaged, Hudak said, the club tightened its safety guidelines and presented them to the township.

Then, on April 7, a man who was not a member of the club was flying his plane at Turk Park 3 and lost control of it. The plane crashed in the backyard of the Bucks County Prison, more than half a mile from the park.

"What should have been a very innocent afternoon of flying a plane at Turk Park 3 turned into a rather difficult situation because we had to request the support of the correctional personnel to search the prison," White said, noting that prisoners could have picked up pieces of the plane and used them as weapons. "The department of corrections was doing something and being derailed to a job that they should not have had to do."

The only part of the plane prison guards found was the tail section.

White said the April 7 crash made it obvious to him that flying model airplanes in the area was "dangerous." He said any of the planes that crashed "could have easily injured or killed somebody."

That day, he had signs posted at the park, announcing that it was closed to anyone who wanted to fly model planes.

Hudak said the club members have always been careful and no one has been hurt by their planes. The thing that hurt the most about the Nov. 29 crash, he said, "was that the guy who crashed his airplane was out about $600 when it was over."

The club members have trouble understanding why they're being penalized for problems they didn't cause.

And they hope the supervisors will vote in May to allow them to stay at Turk Park 3.

The supervisors and the township's parks and recreation committee have talked about converting the flying field into a community dog park, if they can get permission from the county and raise enough money.

So the model airplane club might not get its wish.

If they are forced to leave Turk Park 3 for good, club members don't know where they'll go. Hudak said he intends to contact the county parks and recreation department again to see if someone in the department can help the club find a new flying field.

Hudak said: "We're sorely going to miss this one because it was the main location for most of our members. It was kind of centralized."

Christina Kristofic can be reached at 215-345-3079 or [email protected]

April 19, 2010 02:36 AM

As I read it the club members took responsible steps to avoid the problem but are now kicked out because of a rogue flyer.

Yes?

Kind of late to have posted this after the fact. IMO it would have been an easy fix. 80 members with $200 each could have donated some $16000 to the parks people and the Township's employee benefit programs and my bet is that you would keep your field.

If $200 each is too steep, well again IMO, you don't really want the field.