flying solo
 

started flying a aerobird last summer 04 little plane took alot of abuse flew on farm land bought a arrow trainer hanger 9 to pretty to risk set up a sturdy birdy w/osfx.25 flys great first flight's hand launched same field went down to millwaukee last sunday 4/3/05 flew w/some experinced rc flyers took my plane up turned it over to me said i was doing great asked if i wanted him to land for me i said know way and brought it in i continue flying at the farm field aside from some broken prop's [tail dragger] one spinner i have sustained no damage when i can confidently and repeadtedly touch a go i will moe on also experienced a succesful dead stick landing thus far i have learned to fly by starting out small & slow and working up + research help you all and listening all except the you cant learn with out a inst. present part it can be done the exp. rc flyers i was with last sunday were impressed common sens courtesy caution 3 c's ha ha it has not costed me 100's or even a 1000 dollars as some have indicated i havent killed anyone i treat my plane's like a loaded gun [6 years military exp.] this works for me i would not have a kid handel a loaded gun would not have nor fire a loaded gun around by standers ie dont fly arond by standers dont turn over to a kid dont get arogent over confident with it this has worked for me i listen and ask questions when the oprtunity puts me with other flyers i have a ama membership and im enjoying the hobby im learning to build the way i see it crashing gives me a chance to use that skill life comes w/certain risks thats what keeps it intresting i dont condone endangering others 3 c's thanx for all your help

RE: flying solo
 

Edit:
reread it. Thats awsome on flying. The thing about AMA is that it is only good if you fly at an AMA chartered field :-)

RE: flying solo
 

I am an AMA member, but I fly exclusively on my own field. It would be nice to join a regular club, but with my job, and the nearest club at least an hour away, I stay in my backyard, and can do what I want. I have trained a couple of kids, but no one else flys here. It looks like ICCARUS found the way to teach himself successfully (to his credit) and has found what it takes for him to enjoy the hobby. I wish him the best in his future of flying. The learning never stops. That what makes this site so awesome.

RE: flying solo
 

Wrong,
AMA liability insurance covers you pretty much anywhere you want to fly (with few exceptions that are listed), as long as you follow their guidelines (i.e. no bystanders beyond a certain point and so on).
I didn't read in his post anywhere where he said he didn't have AMA. I would definitely suggest to anyone to get AMA insurance. If something goes haywire, these things can fly for miles before they come down--and at that point can hurt someone or someone else's property. You don't have any control over people miles away from you!

RE: flying solo
 

2slow, I thought it had to be an AMA chartered field? I am waiting on my AMA, yet it doesn't stop me from flying. I just take all precautions and the people where i fly keep the eyes to the sky when someone is up in the air. I replaced my antenna yesterday, and i checked it today. But i will check it again tommrow at the field at the point which we never go past to make sure it will work correctly

RE: flying solo
 

i could not have done it with out the fourum, the suportive advice and a healthy fear instilled in me through this fourum. add that to pre flight check before maiden flight from LHS and more good advice. all i had to do was gather up the nerve to fly it and not crash not counting hard landings oh and one run in with a tree [depth perception] no real damage

RE: flying solo
 

That's terrific Iccarus. You're one of the few that have learned on their own.

NewB,
No, AMA covers you pretty much anywhere, as long as you are following all of their safety procedures. One of which is establishing a flight line that no one crosses while someone is flying.

You can find the safety rules on their website.
Dennis-

RE: flying solo
 

Newb & DB,
We researched all the AMA rule at our field. We are a small group of flyers and our field is located on an Army base and we were researching dropping paying fees every year to the AMA for our club. All our research included several calls to AMA to make sure that individual pilot's AMA insurance would cover them if we dropped the club AMA. The long and short of it boils down to this, your AMA insurance will cover you as long you are following the POSTED AMA rules at your flying site. No matter what else you may have for safety if you don't have the AMA safety code posted where you are flying, then you won't be covered.

RE: flying solo
 

RCKen,
I would EMPLORE you not to drop your AMA charter. The AMA does wonderful things for us, including trying to protect our frequencies and such. They are an intergal part of our hobby, and we should all support it as much as possible. Our club membership is only 10 bucks per year, and we somehow pay for it. If necessary, increase your dues by five or ten bucks per year.

RE: flying solo
 

Thanks for showing concern, but we dropped our charter 2 years ago. You have to understand our situation. We haven't had a club in 15 years, the field is located on an Army Base. Right now we have 10-15 regular flyers. When it's time to do flied maintenance we all just roll up our sleeves and get it done. Like I said, it's been over 2 years since we've been AMA chartered. Before that we had a "paper club", meaning we paid our AMA dues for "the club" and had the charter. But then the AMA changed it's rules for clubs that the same person couldn't keep the same "elected" post for more than 2 years, so it got to be too much of a hassle for us. Now, before you tell me about the insurance for the flying site please know that the AMA insurance only covers events at your field such as fun flys and that sort. We all are required to have AMA insurance by the Army and our AMA insurance covers us as long as the AMA flying rules are posted at the field, which they are.

Trust me, we've researched this completely even to the point of having several attorney's look at it. There is nothing that the AMA did for our "club" that made it worthwhile for us in our situation. We all still have our individual AMA memberships to cover us.

RE: flying solo
 

I understand. I'm just big on associations like the AMA and such that do so much for us. As long as I'm in the hobby (for a long time, I hope), I'll be an AMA member. I don't know what all goes into a club being chartered, so I can't comment on that. I just like supporting our organization.

RE: flying solo
 

Sounds like they are supporting the organization, he said they are AMA members, just not a club. Based on what he said, it makes perfect sense, too much hassle for little benefit.