best place to live for Pattern and IMAC contest flying?
01-16-2013, 11:16 PM
#26
RE: best place to live for Pattern and IMAC contest flying?
ORIGINAL: luckymacy
I lived in Florida (KSC) for a dozen years in the 80s and 90s and work now with someone who worked in Houston (JSC) for a few years until recently so we've compared notes on the two locations. He's been to KSC so it was easy to relate. Yep, Houston doesn't sound any better than East Coast Florida weather wise and unbearable, ugly humid and heat but Houston has less mosquitos and gnats! LOL. He said he hated Texas and would never go back unless it was the Austin area. I'm more open minded that than but I do remember that it really did put a damper on flying. We'd be done and back home by 11am during the worst stretch of summer. Any thing longer and your brain was fried. All the sweat rolling down your face while flying would often cause a small swarm of gnats to invade your eyes behind your sunglasses. That was always fun. I would just go and jump straight into the pool when I got home before doing antyhing else like taking the plane out just to cool off.
Humm, California is sounding better and better. ;-)
But I have a real RV-8 that'd I'd need to hangar too and I don't know how easy it'd be to make that all work out affordably in CA like I could in TX or FL. Humm, where's the really ideal California spot if job was no issue? I didn't want to complicate the question though with all that baggage but since the thread's cooled off I thought it was OK to throw that out there.
I lived in Florida (KSC) for a dozen years in the 80s and 90s and work now with someone who worked in Houston (JSC) for a few years until recently so we've compared notes on the two locations. He's been to KSC so it was easy to relate. Yep, Houston doesn't sound any better than East Coast Florida weather wise and unbearable, ugly humid and heat but Houston has less mosquitos and gnats! LOL. He said he hated Texas and would never go back unless it was the Austin area. I'm more open minded that than but I do remember that it really did put a damper on flying. We'd be done and back home by 11am during the worst stretch of summer. Any thing longer and your brain was fried. All the sweat rolling down your face while flying would often cause a small swarm of gnats to invade your eyes behind your sunglasses. That was always fun. I would just go and jump straight into the pool when I got home before doing antyhing else like taking the plane out just to cool off.
Humm, California is sounding better and better. ;-)
But I have a real RV-8 that'd I'd need to hangar too and I don't know how easy it'd be to make that all work out affordably in CA like I could in TX or FL. Humm, where's the really ideal California spot if job was no issue? I didn't want to complicate the question though with all that baggage but since the thread's cooled off I thought it was OK to throw that out there.
310 bucks a month for T-hangars at Chino Airport (home of the Planes of Fame and Yanks All American Air Museums) and typical of the areas other airports like Riverside, SB International, Rialto, Cable (pvt), Fla-Bob (pvt), Brackett, El Monte, and south and west, SNA, LGB, Compton, VNY, BUR, and more.
There are 2000 sq foot 5 year old houses for 300 tops in San Bernadino County, Riverside County, San Fernando Valley. That's an example (small sample) of the down market and the vastness of the Los Angeles basin, there are a lot of places to live that don't cost a million dollars.
9 contests are run (Arvin(Bakersfield), Riverside, Hemet, Whittier Narrows, Apple Vally, Lancaster (multiple), San Diego (Miramar), within a 3 hour drive.
A half dozen fields (Prado, Norton, Hemet, Riverside, Whittier Narrows, Sepulveda Basin, Irvine) that I would trust to fly a 2 meter ship within 1 hour drive, and about a dozen Advanced/Masters/FAI guys ready to coach and help out.
Chris...
01-17-2013, 03:25 PM
#27
RE: best place to live for Pattern and IMAC contest flying?
ORIGINAL: speedracerntrixie
Good to know Peter, If there is any assistance I can provide please call on me. Are you guys going to include some classic pattern too? May be a good way to boost numbers.
Good to know Peter, If there is any assistance I can provide please call on me. Are you guys going to include some classic pattern too? May be a good way to boost numbers.
I'll check with Luke, we're trying to blend classic into the AMA pattern contests, but that may be ambitious for a 1-day.
Peter+
01-18-2013, 04:31 PM
#28
Thread Starter
RE: best place to live for Pattern and IMAC contest flying?
Been talking it over with my better half and she's practically started packing for a California move! Couldn't get her excited about going back to Florida or Texas. I'll have to look for some place that's less than 30 minutes drive on the weekend from a dog friendly beach, 30 minutes from an airport and 30 minutes from an RC field in some place that's remotely affordable!
seriously, thanks for the info.
ORIGINAL: stuntflyr
Hi Lucky,
310 bucks a month for T-hangars at Chino Airport (home of the Planes of Fame and Yanks All American Air Museums) and typical of the areas other airports like Riverside, SB International, Rialto, Cable (pvt), Fla-Bob (pvt), Brackett, El Monte, and south and west, SNA, LGB, Compton, VNY, BUR, and more.
There are 2000 sq foot 5 year old houses for 300 tops in San Bernadino County, Riverside County, San Fernando Valley. That's an example (small sample) of the down market and the vastness of the Los Angeles basin, there are a lot of places to live that don't cost a million dollars.
9 contests are run (Arvin(Bakersfield), Riverside, Hemet, Whittier Narrows, Apple Vally, Lancaster (multiple), San Diego (Miramar), within a 3 hour drive.
A half dozen fields (Prado, Norton, Hemet, Riverside, Whittier Narrows, Sepulveda Basin, Irvine) that I would trust to fly a 2 meter ship within 1 hour drive, and about a dozen Advanced/Masters/FAI guys ready to coach and help out.
Chris...
Hi Lucky,
310 bucks a month for T-hangars at Chino Airport (home of the Planes of Fame and Yanks All American Air Museums) and typical of the areas other airports like Riverside, SB International, Rialto, Cable (pvt), Fla-Bob (pvt), Brackett, El Monte, and south and west, SNA, LGB, Compton, VNY, BUR, and more.
There are 2000 sq foot 5 year old houses for 300 tops in San Bernadino County, Riverside County, San Fernando Valley. That's an example (small sample) of the down market and the vastness of the Los Angeles basin, there are a lot of places to live that don't cost a million dollars.
9 contests are run (Arvin(Bakersfield), Riverside, Hemet, Whittier Narrows, Apple Vally, Lancaster (multiple), San Diego (Miramar), within a 3 hour drive.
A half dozen fields (Prado, Norton, Hemet, Riverside, Whittier Narrows, Sepulveda Basin, Irvine) that I would trust to fly a 2 meter ship within 1 hour drive, and about a dozen Advanced/Masters/FAI guys ready to coach and help out.
Chris...
01-18-2013, 04:47 PM
#29
RE: best place to live for Pattern and IMAC contest flying?
Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos have great beaches, Hollister, Salinas, South County, Reid Hillveiw are good for general aviation and R/C flying sites are in Morgan Hill, Hollister and Salinas. All of this is in about an 80 mile radius with much more just outside the radius. Problem is that gas is 3.50 for cheap stuff, houses are averaging 700K, you cant rent a house for under 2K. I'm wondering why I still live here, oh yea, the beaches and good flying sites LOL
08-08-2013, 08:52 AM
#30
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Definitely not New England.
I'd like to get into pattern, no events within hours. One IMAC this year 1.5 hours from where I live. That means skip my weekend flying day if I want to go watch for an hour. (And I'm more interested in pattern than IMAC.)
-l2t
I'd like to get into pattern, no events within hours. One IMAC this year 1.5 hours from where I live. That means skip my weekend flying day if I want to go watch for an hour. (And I'm more interested in pattern than IMAC.)
-l2t
08-09-2013, 09:35 PM
#31
Ohio is a pretty good spot. We have a pretty active pattern district and there seems to be an IMAC contest most weeks I don't feel like driving too far for pattern.
New England is hurting for contest flying. I regularly drove 5-6hrs to NJ/NY/PA for contests when I lived in VT. There was one in New Hampshire but they stopped doing it - luckily I caught one there, was my first contest.
New England is hurting for contest flying. I regularly drove 5-6hrs to NJ/NY/PA for contests when I lived in VT. There was one in New Hampshire but they stopped doing it - luckily I caught one there, was my first contest.
04-18-2016, 04:28 PM
#32
Thread Starter
This is a good question and I'm interested to hear the results. I consider myself fortunate to live in Houston, TX. I think this area is a hotbed for pattern flying, and Houston seems like it's right in the middle of it. It's also right in the middle of District 6 although it may not look so on a map, but if you consider where the majority of the D6 contests are held then it's a great location.
There are many designers in D6 as well: Bryan Hebert (Valiant, Shinden, Patriot, Alferma), Mark Hunt (Pentathalon, Insight), Mike Harrison/Lance von Nostrand (Symphony, Aries) and many other really knowledgeable pattern technical experts (Ron Bar, Earl Haury, Don Ramsey, Andre Bouchard, & Glen Watson to name a few). And of course there is great competition here. We've been sending in Brett Wickizer to represent us at the Worlds the last several years, but there are many more great pilots in all classes.
Here's the contest situation
Within 3 hours:
2 right here in Houston (Space City & Jetero)
1-2 San Antonio, TX area
Within 4 hours:
1 Dallas
2 Crowley, LA
1 Baton Rouge, LA
You can check out Don Ramsey's D6 Pattern Page for the contest info.
[link=http://pages.suddenlink.net/donramsey/]http://pages.suddenlink.net/donramsey/[/link]
Keven
There are many designers in D6 as well: Bryan Hebert (Valiant, Shinden, Patriot, Alferma), Mark Hunt (Pentathalon, Insight), Mike Harrison/Lance von Nostrand (Symphony, Aries) and many other really knowledgeable pattern technical experts (Ron Bar, Earl Haury, Don Ramsey, Andre Bouchard, & Glen Watson to name a few). And of course there is great competition here. We've been sending in Brett Wickizer to represent us at the Worlds the last several years, but there are many more great pilots in all classes.
Here's the contest situation
Within 3 hours:
2 right here in Houston (Space City & Jetero)
1-2 San Antonio, TX area
Within 4 hours:
1 Dallas
2 Crowley, LA
1 Baton Rouge, LA
You can check out Don Ramsey's D6 Pattern Page for the contest info.
[link=http://pages.suddenlink.net/donramsey/]http://pages.suddenlink.net/donramsey/[/link]
Keven
04-19-2016, 06:58 AM
#33
I'll second Keven on District 6. IIRC, there are 17 or 18 contests this year in my district....I live in Austin and will attend most of them. And I must say the talent in this district is top shelf. Is it hot here? in the summer?, hell yea. BUT, I flew in all the winter months, rarely missing a weekend..
Gary
Gary
02-25-2020, 06:53 PM
#34
Thread Starter
well well well, I forgot about this thread I started a little over 7 years ago! I can't resist reviving it by saying we ended up moving last year to Oklahoma City for work and we LOVE it. It's an 11 minute drive to an awesome paved runway RC field (Baxter RC at Lake Stanley Draper). This may be an exceptionally nice winter but we've been in T-shirts sometimes and flying on almost every weekend already since New Years. It'll be completely sunny and in the low 70s here this weekend. I flew here last summer in the hot weather and it was not as annoying to me as Florida was. The humidity is a non factor here for me though the sun is definitely laser intense mid to late summer so fly in the morning with a sun block stand or later in the afternoon/evening gets it done. Bonus, it stays daylight over half an hour later than it did in Philadelphia so that stretches out the time for flying after work or weekend evenings. Now the downside is that pattern is pretty much dead these days in Oklahoma but IMAC is very active all around including my club. The average pattern contest is HOURS further away than the average IMAC contest for this upcoming season. Saying that, this year I maidened the 2m sebart prometheus bipe with a V4 contra drive and I have a new Alchemy and a YS 200s CDI GLOW setup on order so I'm not deterred completely. I've now been to central Texas in the Summer and OKC is definitely much less hot and humid, for what it's worth.
