I'm very new to this sport so please bare with me . . .

I just bought my first plane last year and joined a local club and the AMA. I have yet to fly my plane because during the winter I was too busy, but I'm ready now. My fellow club members helped me setup my plane and radio and test flew my plane at the field. It flew great!! But I have questions about where I can fly my plane. There is a very large, remote field completely surrounded by trees about 50 feet from my house. If I got permission from the landowner to fly my plane in his field does my AMA insurance cover me for accidents? Is it leagl for me to fly there? It would be so convenient sometimes to just fly there by myslef instead of driving to the field (which isn't that good and has huge rocks right next to the landing strip). I plan to get lessons from the club first and also play around with the plane on the ground in my backyard before I fly on my own.

Does anyone know the laws regarding this??

Thanks!

Once you have soloed and are completely confident with your skills, you may fly anywhere limited only by your own good judgment. AMA will not insure you if you are not at an AMA sanctioned field or event, but your homeowners insurance (if you have some) will.

Homeowner's covers that? ? Wow, that surprises me. I do have homeowners insurance. I plan to get lessons until I feel confident. Once I do, that field makes my eyes big and greedy. I just have to track down who owns it. I never see anyone doing anything over there except sometimes 4 wheelers ride around the outskirts when passing through.

Thanks for the info!!

Consider yourself lucky that you have such a nice field close by......but, as Minn said, make sure you are completely proficient and confident in your abilities before trying it on your own....your training at the club field should include quite a few solo flights before moving on. Make sure the new field is at least as large as the field you're training at.
One other thing you should consider, make sure that there are no flying fields in at least a 3 mile vicinity of the field that you're planning on flying at.

Mike

Very true. I meant to mention the 3 mile rule, but I forgot.

Also remember that the size of the field is only half the battle. Trees, power lines, homes etc. are another BIG consideration.

Rookies have a tendency to think any large area would make a good field. Not so. You would think that a Football field would be great, but I recall an event that was held at one once, and it was one of the most difficult fields I've ever flown from (and I was far from a rookie at the time!).

No doubt, thanks for the advice. The field is probably 400M long and about 300M wide surounded by tall pine trees on all sides. You can only see 2 houses from the field but I guess they could be potential issues if I got into a situation where my plane no longer received my signals (I saw that happen once) and it floated wherever it wanted to. That would suck. But I plan to fly at the far end of the field and not approach the end with the houses too often to avoid any trouble. The closest RC airfield is about 4 miles away and it's my club field so I already have a dedicated frequency that nobody else should be using.

Thanks!!

The previous posts have great advice. I would like to stress one thing, though:

Please plan on spending at least a year with the club, where the rocks are. The field next door may be convenient, but the field is the place to learn those difficult things which take a year or more of experience to deal with. Like automatic response when wind takes the plane, how to know when to abort a landing and go around, and when to fly in the wind and when not to. There are many more good things which come with experience, all of which will be important when you fly in that field and encounter the unexpected.

Besides, you might enjoy the guys at the club!

Good luck,
Dave Olson

You said the club field is 4 miles from your field........Is that on the road, or as the crow flies? I'm not sure if I understand the dedicated frequency thing either.......how do other flyers at the club field know you're flying on that frequency?

Mike

lol, as the crow flies it's about 4 miles. By road it's further. As for the dedicated frequency we have certain frequencies we each use. They are assigned. I'm still new to the system but I think that's how they told me it works. I got a crystal with that freq they gave me. But in any case, they are out of range from the field near my house so it shouldn't be a problem.

One other thing. This hobby is great, but can be dangerous. I would suggest that you don't fly alone, in the case something happens. (And things can happen)

Have fun and play safe.

Has anyone ever died from these things or been sued horribly or gone to prison because of them? It shouldn't be that way. I feel like it's a hard sport to get into because of all the laws. Driving a car is more dangerous.

Yes people have died as the results of model aircraft.

One of the reasons for not flying alone is that a few years ago a fellow flying alone received a severe cut from his prop, he left everything at the field and drove off for the hospital. Unfortunately his bleeding caused him to pass out prior to getting there and he crashed into a tree killing himself. I'm not sure where this was but it was reported in the AMA mag. Model Aviation.

Minnflyer,
you might want to contact AMA directly and check what you said on the insurance requiring an AMA sanctioned field or event. I believed that to be true, but contacted the AMA about six months ago, and was very clear about having the opportunity to fly on privately owned farmland, and that I was interested where AMA's insurance stood on the issue, I was told flat out if I was an AMA member, and flying using all of the AMA's operating procedures, I would be covered. I even wrote back to clarify and said, so if I lose control on private land, and by some chance the plane manages to make a beeline for the one neighbors home, at least 3/4 of a mile away, I'd be covered, and I was told yes. I recall correcting myself in a post some time ago as well, as I had been saying also that you had to be at an AMA site. I don't think that is true.

I actually have an email in to the AMA on this subject right now. I am asking about private use, if written permission is needed or if verbal is fine. Also regarding insurance coverage on public land (parks/schools) and public bodies of water. I'll let everyone know what I get for a response.

Jon

Thanks Jon, that is what I had done, too, unfortunately my work has purged the reply I received. I'm interested to hear what you receive. My opinion is it has less to do with where you are, and more to do with whether you have used reasonable caution in your decision. I know that leaves quite a gray area, but on the other hand, if someone has a huge area of private land, and just does not want it to become an AMA site, it wouldn't make sense to not include them, they probably help keep the cost of insurance down, relative to individuals in heavily used club sites near homes, etc.

I believe the AMA insurance will cover you anywhere (within reason) you fly as long as you abide by the safety code and follow it to the letter. Note, under the General rules, paragraph 5 about personal ID in the plane. I think a lot of people don't do that. Also requires your AMA number on the plane, another thing a lot of people forget to do. The 3 mile radius for flying may be the only true restriction to private field flying. But, just to be safe get the answer in writing from the AMA.
Deaths, don't recall one for a couple years. I think the last one was when a man got hit square in the chest with a plane and that killed him. Years back there used to be a lot more of that regarding serious injury and deaths when involved with Pylon Racing but rules and protection cages have resolved most of that. It's quite a site to see a 5 pound plane hit the ground or go through a tree at 180mph and a motor screaming at 40,000+ rpm. The silence after a crash is deafening. I CD'd a quarter final plyon race for the NMPRA once and I vowed to never volunteer for that again. You can check the safety code at the AMA web site: www.modelaircraft.org and go the the heading "membership services". Actually you may have gotten a copy with your AMA membership. Last, insurance payouts. There have been a number that have gone to the limit of homeowners plus AMA. Seems to me there is still a BIG one that hasn't been settled. That is the basic reason for the sizeable jump in AMA membership dues this year. Partly because of the obvious insurance cost increase and a little extra was factored in as a fudge against more increases that everyone knows will happen. We have to let the trial lawyers make a living!!!
Hope you get a favorable answer from AMA.

Thanks everyone this is great input from what is obviously an experienced crowd. I'm really excited about flying this year and eventually using that field if the owner lets me. I'm even willing to pay him a small fee of like $100 a year if he refuses at first (maybe that would change his mind who knows). Where I live there are actually TONS of farm fields very isolated from civilization so I'm bound to be able to find one in the bunch willing to let me use their field. I wish I could buy the field!!

Anyway, thanks again.

One other thing to think about is those tall trees you mentioned. They may affect you in several ways: The two most obvious are, can you clear them after takeoff, and will they hinder your landings?

Another is this: many times, if you are surrounded by trees (even if only on one, two, or three sides) Turbulence can occur in areas that, on the ground, you may not feel. Your pucker factor can rise dramatically when your plane almost snaps on a landing approach!

From where I would be taking off the trees are about 400M away so I definitely should be able to take off and land without issue. At the club when they test flew my plane he only needed 10 feet before he was going vertical. The plane went vertical almost like a helicopter until it was almost out of sight. I guess it has a lot of power for the plane, and the instructor said it handles nice.

I hope to develop icey veins of steel so that when things happen I don't even twitch except for my thumb.

The icy veins of steel may develop over time but I occasionally require changes of underwear.

Good discussion. We lost our flying field to construction of a large ampitheater and are awaiting a new field when that is finished. In interim I and a friend have permission from a large landowner to fly on his property, several hundred acres in all. It has been fun. We recently had a launch with receiver switch off and the plane circled high and then moved over the heart of a small city, all at full throttle. It finally dove at full throttle and landed at the end of a driveway of a home in a new developement, smashing itself into small pieces, a very close call. We are now scrambling to understand the liability issues too. We have also created a nuisance for the local area as more and more uninvited flyers are seeing us in action and showing up to fly. We will probably lose the spot due to damage from cars, vandalism and crashes, we already have had a plane from a trespasser group land on the roof of a local business and break out a window on a parked car. The pasture can give you some nice freedom in flying, but there are still dangers and problems which can arise. And I wonder if those granting approval for tresspass understand the liability that they may have in allowing access for flying.

It's interesting you mention the landowner's liability because I was thinking about that. I figured I would just sign a document saying that the landowner is free of all liability as a result of any accidents caused by my flying but I don't think that would work in court if something happened and the plaintiff really felt like sueing the landowner. You have bad luck! I wonder if flying my plane at relatively low altitude would decrease the chances of any harm coming to people and property? IfI fly under 40 feet and don't do anything fancy if the plane gets out of control it would in most cases hit the trees around the field instead of fly off toward a city. hmmmmm something to think about I guess. Maybe I should just stick with trucks lol. . .

Get your field sanctioned by the AMA I think it cost about $40/year and provides the owner liability insurance ( think it is for $2,000,000) and as with the coverage AMA covers you it is secondary.

So I can have the owner's field sanctioned by the AMA for $40 extra a year and that covers him if anything happens? I just want to make sure I understand what you said. That's cool if it's true. It would definitely be worth the peace of mind and would even make it easier for me to approach the owner. I'm sort of hoping the owner is some old farmer who just doesn't care and says "sure sonny go ahead!".

hehe. . .

Hey, does anyone here know how to cheaply make your own glow fuel? That stuff is expensive! I paid $87 for 4 gallons (including shipping costs). I wish I could just make my own. maybe this should be a new thread.

I know I could do some homework and probably find the answer, but let me ask this, I am aware that some fields have membership limits, so do you guys think it is possible to get private land sanctioned by the AMA, and then retain it as an entirely private field? For $40, I'd seriously consider trying to get the land I fly on sanctioned as a field, but I don't want the AMA listing it as a field, and having people show up there expecting to fly. It isn't my land to offer that. What do you think? Does anyone out there have private land sanctioned by the AMA, but still able to retain it's 'privacy'? Or does it just make more sense to fly within the AMA guidelines, and assume you are covered?