I am just transferring from electric trainers to glow planes, so I am wondering if my public park is big enough. It is six acres, however it has a highway along one side of it and the entire other sides are filled with rows of houses. Each house is seperated by about 3 feet. I live really close to the beach, so the wind is terrible, about 10 mph. I've considered using a sea plane, but I've heard those do not do well in the ocean with saltwater. Could I potentially fly a glow plane in this area. I could use the grass in the park for a runway, but the electic trainers did not have enough power to actually get it to go any where. Would this be suitable for flying a glow plane?

IMHO 6 acres is plenty and 10mph wind is just a gentle breeze BUT if its a public park with houses on 3 other sides you must have rocks in your head if you atempt to fly there.

what if your on final aproach and some kid wonders across in front of you? what if the people that live there get realy pissed at some one flying this noisy plane in there back yard?
PUBLIC park, dogs, people, kids, trees, KIDS and more KIDS and little old ladies, mums and dads with prams and more KIDS

Yep 6 acres is more than enough if its an RC club and no one lives next door.

Glow engine planes and performance electric are NOT like park fliers in any way remotly similar, they are dangerous 4lb projectiles with a 15000rpm mix master on the front.

imagine some one takes a 1gallon drum of water up about 6 stories and drops it on your head, then he runs down the stairs and runs over you with a lawn mower.

does that make my point???

Well I live on some property about ten acres of field enough to land a fullsize Maul or Cub (600ft.) The trees around do offer a problem but it is pretty easy to fly as long as I'm flying high.

elhefe_6

Heed woodsy's advice.

Just look up the incident in England where a girl was killed next to an aproved RC flying field.
Many legal problems besides the trajedy.

You may have plenty of room but it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Even if you just have a battery failure and the outofcontrol plane flys into one of the houses. That alone would be expensive enough. But I could not handle the threat of hitting a person

Eddie

Yea Ok, I guess its not enough room for glow engines, but does that still leave out small electric park flyers?

I would think an electric plane in the "park flyer" size and weight would be something to consider if you don't have access to a larger area.

The reasons are
- much smaller mass (weight) .The actual size doesn't matter from a safety viewpoint. The mass to do damage upon impact is what matters.

- The ability to turn off the motor & stop the prop turning would reduce damage upon impact.

Also there are some very aerobatic electric planes available - esp with the improvements in battery technology.

You still would have to be a pilot accomplished enough to keep it under "control". I'm not sure I would be good enough to try that. I know I can't bring myself to attempt it at our local school yard and it sounds about the same size as you're referring to.

Eddie

To sort of put it inperspective, our club field is on a 10 acre plot that we lease. It backs up to a 300 acre plot used for cattle grazing. We have overflight rights on the larger piece and use a good proportion of that for out typical flights with glow and gas engine planes.

I agree that the area you are in should be OK for electric (park flyer) equipment.

The glow planes have a typically loud, high pitched whine that can be quite irritating if you aren't an RC enthusiast.

One of our club members lives about 1/2 mile from the field and says he knows when someone is out flying by the engine sound.

Have you checked out any local clubs with fields sized for glow and away from housing developments for noize concerns.

Yea, I know what engines usually sound like because I race a lot on nitro cars. However, the closest field is about an hour away. I think its a club, I'm not sure, I just see planes flying there all the time, so I guess I'll go check on that if I ever want to get into nitro planes. Thanks a lot everyone

If you live in Beverly Hills Ca. then your nearest option is Sepulvada basin at the I-5 and 101 in Van nuys it is a public facility with plenty of help avaliable and just up the pass from you. As far as flying conventional glow in the park you are refering to, Don,t even think about it.


John

I would seriously consider driving to a flying field before flying glow in a small park. I would question weather electric is even smart to fly there if it is houses all around. Why put others at risk. The other problem is that when you fly there, you know you are going to have a lot of kids come to watch and that will compound your problem. You could hit one, or if you land and are not there to pick it up quick enough, it gets trashed by kids trying to pick it up.

John B was close, actually it's at the 101 and 405, go one exit north of the 101 , Burbank exit, make a left and than a right on Woodley. It is on the left side across from the Japanese Gardens the sign says "Apollo Field".

You can fly your electric there as well, just put up a frequency flag before you turn on your transmitter. Ask anyone of the 25 or so people that are there at any given time, there are plenty of local mavins who are ready with plenty of advice.

On any day you will see Jet's, six warbird guys flying formation, 1/4 scale and larger planes and an assortment of trainers, arfs, kits, helicopters,electrics, 3d's and the weekends are especially intersting. People who visit from around the country can't believe how much activity is going on without any official authority.

Iv'e heard it called a zoo on more than one occasion but, it's our zoo and I get bored at less active fields.

See you there, Richard on Channel 16 ( don't buy a radio on 16)

For Glow airplanes I would not fly with out at least 100 clear acres. Glow planes are 10 too 100 times faster than electric. Your reaction time is not that great. It would just be a matter of time before you would do damage to property of GOD forsake a human being. Saw a pilot lose control and crased into a automobile. The crystal vibrated out of the receiver. The engine went completly through the drivers side door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our field is on 30 acres of a 100 acre plot. The plot is 1500' X 3000'. When an airplane is 1500 ft. away, it's getting hazy for most, especially if 5' span or less.

Didn't know KY had so much land for fields. Good deal.

PS: a properly wrapped receiver will not allow the crystal to come out, even a little.

exactly how big is one acre? how many acres is a football field (soccer)?

I am on my first plane and have a Firebird XL, here is the field i am thinking or flying in,
http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cg...700&height=410
could anyone hazard a wild guess at the size of the large triangler field in the corner of the park?

Hey jamesdavidking,
From what i have learned from all these people, that would probally be too small because there are a bunch of houses around it. If it goes out of control, it would not be a pretty sight. You might consider electric if its big enough, but I can't really tell straight off-hand.

43,560 square feet from what I can quickly research, is an acre.

football field(Football) would be about 36000 square feet, if it is 300 feet long and 120 feet wide?

Does this sound right?

few acres then is plenty of space, depending on stuff around it. Our field is not big at all, few acres tops, including what we fly over I would think any bigger gets hard to see.

Mill

Yep, 43,560 ft. An official soccer field (the grid lined part) is 300 ft x 150 ft, or 45,000 sq ft - or just over an acre.

The large triangle in the overhead view (the one with the two plane-eating trees) looks to be about five acres. I fly a Fighterbird in a nearby park that is basically 250 ft by 400 ft with big sycamore trees on all sides. Depending on the wind the 250 ft approach can be tricky to get it in over the trees and stopped.

By the way, I find the Fighterbird to be a lot harder to control than a "true" gas powered plane with full controls. It is very wind sensitive, and the lack of a proper elevator makes elevation changes something of a juggling act. Takes a lot of body twisting and tongue biting.

yes those trees do make the field effectively half the size as i dare not go past them. However i have found the field of dreams, its in Penge just 5 miles away, well here it is, tell what you think
http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cg...&gride=&gridn=
it's very big, at least for a field in a big city, there is a field like it closer but it belongs to Dulwich College, those posh gits keep it all to them selfs.

Wow you really hit the nail on the head. I fly small (Speed 400 sized) airplanes at a park near my house. I also fly glow airplanes, and i would never even consider bringing one over to the park. Anyways, back to the point. While am flying my electrics over at the park, I often have kids come up to me. Not only do they watch, (which is fine) they ask to fly them, they ask me to run into stuff with them, they offer a few dollars for the whole outfit (Futaba 6XAS computer radio, Hacker B20 15L, and whatever plane my motor is in[usually 3D]) and other ludacrous requests.DONT FLY AT THE PARK UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED FOR THIS!!! Whew, had to get that off my chest.

Your post speaks the truth. I don't mind the park, its easy to walk there. But kiddies expecting me to let them have a go. No way, I would trust a kiddie with my plane as far as i can throw a steamroller. I only have a Firebird XL, I would probably not doubt their ability to fly it, but does an 8 year old kid have the maturity to fly something that can cause damage, to person, property or most likely the plane.

Like said earlier, please LOOK for a local club. I.m a beginner, but I realize a lot of the concerns. Tower Hobbies is a great site to find clubs as well as any local hobby stores that sell the aircraft. It is not only safer, but you have the ability to find a free instructor, learn enormous amounts of tips and tricks, engine maintenance and break in and everybody has a great time. You probably aren't the only one in your area that flies, so someone else maybe willing to carpool and possibly train. There was a person killed a couple of years ago when a giant hit him in the chest. Even if you are a member of the AMA, I think their bylaws restrict you from flying in public areas as well. I am not sure though, may want to check with someone with more experience, or their website, which is also a great place to find local clubs. Good Luck.

With 6 acres, (one acre is about 200X200') you have plenty of room for a small park flyer like a firebird or something like that. If you want to go to something more capable, try an Aerobird, which is a three channel version of the fighterbird. Great plane. I love it.

As for glows being faster than electics, that is no longer true. many electrics can hit 50 MPH and some 100 MPH. And I am talking about the ones you buy in a hobby store or order through a catalog.

My Aerobird does very well in 10-12 MPH winds and I have flown in 15 MPH winds with some challenge, but it handles it pretty well.