Empty, Flat Desert
 

I live in New Hampshire where open fly land is hard to come buy. I do not wish to join a club because I am self taught, and dont believe I can benefit from them, so I always try to find my own space. When I research our hobby, all you guy's that live in the desert, large flat lands etc, dont have to worry about tree's, fences, and people next to you. I guess what I am saying is, I wish I could push it to the max ! ..........I guess I'm a little jealous.......:(

I am self-taught and flew for many years by myself. Then I joined a club and I enjoy chewing the fat with other modelers and seeing what they fly. Plus we have a club flying field; all my old haunts where I flew by myself are now dog parks, nature preserves, etc. So I'm happy to have a spot. Yes, I pay for AMA, but these days legislators are all hot to regulate drones, so I recognize the need to have an organization on our side. I still wind up flying alone about half the time, because on a lot of good days no one is at the field. Anyway, suit yourself and have fun.

Jim

Quote "don't believe I can benefit from them.", sounds like you could benefit by having a good place to fly! Plus you always learn things from your fellow flyers and even make new friends. Your reasons for going it alone are flawed. If you are flying alone with aircraft powered by more than a rubber band and your finger finds the spinning prop you will wish you had some help. If there is a going club with a nice RC field in your area you are missing the boat, rethink it. The best to you.

The OP could benefit from a club's collective experience in the hobby, too. I've built and flown since the 50s, and still learn things from my friends in the local club.

"I won't join a club because I won't benefit from that nice flying field they have. I'd rather scrounge around for a field and ask stupid questions on rcuniverse.com." Really?

First of all Julionav welcome to RCU.

Second ignore the comment made in post 5 it is likely that a forum mod will get around to deleting it soon.

Learning to fly from small sites surrounded by trees encourages precision as well as tree climbing skills.

Yup no trees fences or people out here but let me tell you what we do have: boiling heat or freezing cold with nothing in between on this rather remote lake pictured that is only thirty miles away and we use only for potentially dangerous maidens. Do with have unlimited runways, well yes but we also have Mohave Greens who can move faster than me in my chair. Also we have two suns almost everyday that come from above like you but also below with just as much intensity. Now if one wants to brave monsoon season one may risk being marooned in a sea of sand with no traction anywhere with in miles or running the risk of being stranded on a road between complete washouts.

No it times like this you will certainly be glad you have someone standing beside you

Yes this photo is from what we call the secret site and the edge of the lake in the back ground is approximately four miles. look at it. Fact is it is extremely difficult to to know where you are landing and very difficult to even choose your landing spot. It a horrible place otherwise for a maiden actually and increditably lonely. I do all my maidens at the home field and only here with certain of our turbines. To pass up on all those lovely little organized fields around you say nothing of the comradeship and possibly the all important mentorship you can receive is, well is simply foolish.

Am I self taught? Yes however there was no such thing as a mentor or a buddy cord back in the middle fifties. An that is not necessarily something to brag about as virtually all of us who stuck it out went thru what to day would be in the many thousands of dollars and increditable frustrations.

Back then we could only just dream about buddy cords as we crashed our way through at least five different methods of controlling our airplanes and the complete releaning require by each.

You are not unique in the idea that you can learn it all on your own and with sims or forums , well most who keep insisting on the going it totally alone end up failing and eventually moving on to some other activity. And that's a shame virtually all here would love see and read of your success.

For whatever it worth don,t be silly, find that mentor and you would be most welcome to the fold.
Oh and ask about cordless buddy systems from those potential mentor's:cool:

John


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2179209

John ~~~ I think I flew there once . Decided to take a walk toward the mountain. Two hours later folks came looking for a lost flier. LOL

A couple of years ago we had member who unfortunately must have suffered of some sort of alzheimers and most of us liked and helped him a lot here at the home field but unfortunately loaded up his airplane one morning and drove off for the field but but never made it. His vehicle was found by helicopter up a remote dry wash sixty miles away some weeks later but he was nowhere in sight. The body was finally found 6 months later close to where the vehicle was.

John

John ~~ Sorry to have brought up bad thoughts . My computer cramped up and I had to cut the note short . I was mainly letting some folks that aren't familiar with the desert know that it can be hard on you if you don't know some of it's secrets and tricks .

I sort of liked flying in the desert sometimes but sure didn't like what the sand could do to a plane ( engine ) or even your car if you got caught by a sand storm . Anyway ~~ ENJOY !!! RED

Not a problem red head and hope you fair well in the storm tonight. If ever you get over this way, perhaps on the way to Las Vegas (100 miles away) PM me and spend a day flying with us. Not traveling with an airplane well I can fix that I,ve lots to choose from.

Here is birdeye view of our field and the new woven polymer runway as well as the controlline circle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xeuw...ature=youtu.be

John

Thanks for the offer John, but I think our traveling is about over but we sure did a lot of it a few years ago . Met you a couple times, mostly around Lake Havasu and Laughlin .
We should be fine as far as the storm goes, it's just above us but boy did we get some rain a bit ago, lol ENJOY !!! RED

I would strongly recommend joining a club. As others have said you will gain from the collective experience of others. From different types of airplanes, engines, field gear, building methods, and types of flying there is no way you can experience all of that by flying alone. I know that fields here in the Northeast are hard to come by but if you willing do drive a bit you will find some very nice flying sites. And we have some of the best modelers and pilots in the country right here. You just have to get out and experience it.

What a selfish person. So what, you were self taught. Now you're keeping all that knowledge to yourself. Not sharing your wit and wisdom with other club members.
I always enjoy flying with someone than alone. Plus I'm sure glad there were folks around when my fingers argued with a prop.

These threads come up from time to time. It's always the same conversation, just worded a bit differently.

OP- "I want all the benefits of a club without having to join a club."
Responder #1- "You should join a club. They are great."
OP- "I don't like people, rules, or paying for things. I'm not going to join a club."
Responder #2- "You should join a club. They are great for other reasons too."
OP- "I just want a place to fly that's in great condition, safe, and where I won't be bothered and won't bother anyone."
Responder #1- "That's a club field. You should join one."
OP- "I'm on a budget, and 20 or 30 cents of my annual dues might go toward something I don't care about or use. Clubs are a waste of money."
Responder #2- "But look at all that you do get."

Then the conversation goes on for at least one week more after the OP has lost interest and left the thread, gone to another forum to complain about how RCU is all just a bunch of club promoters hell bent on pushing new hobbyists to conform to their rigid model of what RC flying is supposed to be, and then buys a drone.

Yes, I enjoy watching the more experienced guys flying just as much as I like flying myself. Clubs are trial and error though. The first club I joined had a short runway and was surrounded by a forest and wasn't a great place to fly. Plus the members seemed snobby and arrogant. The second club has a much better field and the guys are much more laid back and friendlier.

Why would you want to fly alone? Any form of r/c absolutely sucks when you're by yourself. It's when you join other like-minded people that this hobby really becomes fun.

I don't know that I'd go that far. I've had some very satisfying days when I went out to the flying field and was alone the whole time. Ditto for running trucks and boats. But overall the camaraderie adds a lot to the hobby, and having a well designed and well run flying site to use definitely makes for a better experience.

With all the good advice given, I noticed that the OP has not returned to the thread that he started. I think we didn't tell him what he wanted to hear, instead we gave him facts based on experience. Jester-s1 nailed it (or him) in post #15. If the OP doesn't want to talk any more, we should let this thread die.

Sometimes I have a new plane to maiden or some RC-flying-related activity that requires a lot of f-o-c-u-s. So I'm ok to fly by myself when I need to concentrate. But other times it's great to be with flying friends.

There's always something to learn when flying with others. New planes, new building techniques, varying weather conditions, new radio's. Yesterday I was float flying at our float club's lake. Almost everybody ... myself included ... made some pilot error that ended up dunking planes in the water. One guy's ESC caught fire and melted his plane. We had our little electric boat out most of the day retrieving planes - two at a time. The weather was perfect, the wind was blowing out of the Northeast (perfect for taking off) ... but we were just plain STUPID! But we had fun.

I hear what you're saying, but my stuff has sat for months at a time if I couldn't get people to join me sometimes. But yeah, in that situation that you mentioned, I can see where alone time is beneficial.

To all that responded to my thread and took a shot at me....
First let me tell you, when I said I could not benefit from a club, I meant things such as building kits, types of radios, and things like that. I never intended to create such static. I have been modeling my entire life, and have some knowledge but wish to go my own. I am also not selfish and will fly with my family, my dog, or myself. There are many of you that twisted and distorted my thread. To all the big mouths who lashed out at me....I have been a club member several times, and to the one's who made a comment about me not returning and moving on to a new site to put rc universe down......you have no merit as to what your talking about.....I respect rc universe.....but dont respect people like some of you who dont know what there talking about.......there are some like me that retain what they learn and are always learning rc in different ways then a club......then there are some like you who have big mouth's and thrive on being ignorant......

Hello Athenas dad When you post a somewhat challenging thread thread such as you did talking about how great flyers in other locations had it then you are going to certainly elicit exactly the type of response that I made in reply to you with post #7

And in that reply I posted for each point you sounded so jealous about I injected the down side of each and every point. Even to the pointless death of one of my fellow modelers. All I offered was a bit of realism. If you find that offensive well then enjoy 'your' thread I am out.

John

I would often get to the field before anyone else and sometimes finish just as ohters got there. Then I would hang around with all the friends I had at the field and watch them fly