What makes a parkflier a parkflier? Is it just the size of the airplane and the material it's made from? Or is it also the Tx/Rx ?

The reason I'm asking is that I recently purchased a GWS Corsair with the hopes of flying it in the park/open lot a block from my house, instead of having to drive the 10+ miles to the nearest field. The Rx in the corsair is on ch. 26 in the 72 MHz band -- can this be used as a parkflier? Or do I need to worry about pin control, etc. like we do at the flying field?

Generally,

Uncontrolled sites such as parks and open ground are just that...uncontrolled. You fly at your own risk. The Frequency that your plane is on is an air frequency, but some park flyers are tuned to ground frequencies or 'toy' frequencies.

So to more directly answer your question: 'Park Flyers' are planes which are intended to be flown in a small area, but can include very expensive high-end setups which are often flown at a flying site governed by AMA codes. Toys which are also considered to be 'Park Flyers' are generally tuned to ground frequencies or some other band and will not interfere with 72MHZ.

There are probably dozens of people who will later post where I am wrong, but this is the way I understand it via my LHS. I have seen foamies worth several hundred dollars flown in park or school settings and considered to be 'Park flyers'. I have also seen $20 RTF toys flown at my club site by excellent experienced flyers with a sense of humor.

Best bet is to ask anyone else who may be flying before you turn on your TX. (Or just blindly turn-on and see who crashes......just kidding).

I’m not sure if there is an official definition of a park flier, but in general I’d say any plane that can be “safely” flown in a small space qualifies. This generally means smaller, light weight models with electric power. TX/RX has nothing to do with it.

The 72Mhz aircraft band is public use. Anyone can use it anywhere at any time for it’s intended purpose, as long as they don’t cause interference with other bands/uses as outlined in the FCC regs. The “freq pin” is a self-enforced thing the AMA does. The AMA and its members do this for obvious reasons, but there is nothing legally preventing anyone from transmitting without a pin, even if they are next to an AMA field. This can be troublesome if non-AMA members fly park fliers close to AMA fields as there is little the AMA field can do legally, since the band is public. The flip side is if you fly at your own risk, and in uncontrolled areas, the risk of being shot down may be higher if others are flying since there will be no frequency control in a general park area that all agreed to adhere too.

Minor point on age’s post, the “toys” on other bands, such as 27MHz, are not ground frequencies. It is illegal to operate a flying device on ground freqs. The 27MHz band allows all craft type use as per the FCC, but this doesn’t make them ground freqs. It makes it an air/ground/water band. A ground freq would be a band with use exclusively noted for land/water vehicles, such as the 75MHz band. Likewise, the 72Mhz band is air only. Planes on 27MHz are legal. But Operating an aircraft on 75MHz would be illegal, but I don't know of any being sold that way.

Cheers.

check with the LHS to see if there are any 'regular' non-club flyers that you might interfere with. This may lead to some confrontation with a few extreme ama'ers, but there may be an existing group of StreetFlyers you could link up with to consult freqs. Heck, you may make some new friends & fly with them at some park or whatnot.

Many City Parks have rules, like "No Shooting" and whatnot posted, and lots are hopping on the "No RC" bandwagon, check with the parks department to find the rules, then obey them.