well I went out to the club field to check out the scene there. the guys that were there seemed nice and competent pilots (A major PLUS) incidently I was not the only newb there that night. there was another young fella there that flew his first time (no solo, just messin around). I found out tuesday is trainer night and sunday is fun fly night trainers get to fly when every one else has gone throu the flying orders. the plane was looked at and they thought it would trim out nicely.
the only problem I might have is haveing to skip a flying day because of work. I sling pizzas for pizza hut in the evenings (only 4 days a week) and have a better paying regular hours job, so when I get the days off I will see if they will let me fly.

some thing I should have asked, after soloing can I fly at the field any day? or does it have to be just the 2 days that they said they fly? the field is right across from a lazy GE airport (no airlines land there they only fly cesna 172's out there) that hardly ever gets used. so we have more than enough space to fly and don't have to dodge powerlines or electric fences out there.

I do have one question though, how do you guys know if some one is on your chanel some where in a field trying to fly his plane?

Theoretically, you can fly whenever you want. However, you might want to at least plan on having one other person there just in case you slice off your finger or something by accident.

Depends on the field.

In many club fields, there are frequency boards where pilots hang clips, or cards, or what have you...or perhaps take a clothespin from the board, and put it on their transmitter. In other places, there are radio impounds, or such methods.

At other smaller, or private areas, there's frequently nothing so fancy. In that case, many of the guys simply KNOW what their buddies fly on which channels.

In EITHER event, it's always struck me that there were 2 very basic rules of thumb for frequency management:

1) ADVERTISE YOUR CHANNEL. I have channel flags on my radio, have my channel written on both sides of my hat, and have a channel number on each of my aircraft. Heck, if there was a Nashville Predator whose jersey number was 48, I'd probably WEAR it at the field. Point being, put your channel number everywhere you can think of to maximize the possibility that an observer will KNOW what channel you're on.

2) ASK! Regardless of which (if any) of the methods above a field may use to manage frequencies, if I'm going to be operating with another hobbyist nearby, I will ASK THEM what channel they're on. Believe me, NOBODY will mind. I do this EVEN if they're displaying their number as I described above...just to be certain they didn't, say, buy a new radio yesterday, and haven't changed their hat yet.

3) (I know, I said 2, but 3 is just something I do extra...probably borders on obsessive, but hey) Any time someone's in the air or has a plane running anywhere, when I'm ready to turn on my radio, I always WATCH their aircraft as I power up...JUST IN CASE. I still do this even when I'm flying with, say, shakes268. We've flown together quite a few times at this point, I KNOW what channel he's on, we've NEVER had issues before, and there's just no reason to even IMMAGINE we might. But I do it anyway.

Thus endeth gb's obsessive tirade for the day.

I'm SUCH a moron. I just typed all of that out, and NOW realize you weren't asking that question at ALL I'll leave it though, since, personally, I think it's decent advice anyways.

What I now realize you were asking is how do you know if some guy is off 2 miles away flying in his own backyard, just waiting to shoot you down.

To that one, I think the answer is probably 'You don't. Hope for the best'

Sorry about the (now pointless) tirade up there.

You can buy a frequency scanner. Some are fairly cheap and others run up to around $150.00 It doesn't help though when you are in the air and someone flips on the radio but at times I think PCM fail safe settings are a good idea, especially if its a big airplane (jet, gasser, etc) - a lot of people set up the failsafe to go into a snap to lose momentum. Yep, the plane is toast but less likely to keep going out of sight and injure someone. Never used one of these so not sure if its worth the $50.00

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We fly at a public park and during the weekends there are soccer games, baseball/softball games and other functions going on so a plane with a lost signal could be disastrous if it got into a populated area.

As for the answer from bryris , he MAY be correct or not. It depends on YOUR club rules. MOST clubs will let you fly whenever you want once you have solo'd but you need to make sure as not to break a rule. It is also very wise to have someone there that can either drive you to the hospital or at least dial 911 in case of emergency. The list of things that could cause injury requiring medical attention is too long to go into and common sense says not to fly alone. It is difficult to hold a bandage on an artery and drive at the same time, especially if unconscious. IMO
Some clubs have limits on hours of operation to keep the neighbors happy too. You should be fully briefed on all club rules and policies in the near future, if not ASK.

Another question that I'm a little unsure of: Are you actually a member of the club? If not, then no, you probably can't fly there when there isn't anyone else there. If yes, then it depends on the hours the club maintains.

-Scott

You might see if there is a retiree at your club who is an instructor. They sometimes have free time during times when others are working, and perhaps could work with your schedule.