Steve

My Feedback: (54)

Here is a copy of the field table article that came out in Model Aviation Aug. 2002.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

My club has those very stands. I do not recommend them at all. I think they are junk. First, they are an eye soar. Second, they are less than a year old and falling apart. The little shelves designed to hold your Xmitter are rickety and I don't trust them. And third, they are just plain awkward. I really don't understand the need for such a stand. Friends with back problems claim they are great help. So I more or less consider them the "handicapped parking" area of the pits. But our club has 7 or 8 of these thing all over the place. Oh, they aren't stable. They have three points of contact with the ground. The rear legs of these things are not stable and move around quite a bit. For such a heavy stand, you would expect them to be more durable and stable. I would suggest that you let the club members that wish to have a stand bring thier own. There are some very good portable stands that work better, are stronger and are less offensive to the eye.

carrellh

In general we like these stands. We have a dozen. Ours are pressure treated wood and are still in excellent condition after 3 years. The few guys we have who fly bigger than 1.20 size planes tend to work from the ground. The rest of us, with our .40 and .60 size planes, have no issues with stability.

carrellh

This RC club web site has the article posted. It's easy to read and print from the site.
http://www.meroke.com

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

Thanks for the link. We have these stands and they work very well. You do however have to oil them each year if you use non treated lumber. And they are not made to sit on!!

Steve

BillS

PilotFighter,

I built a similar table/stand to use at home. I simply donā€™t like to work on the ground.

Since you donā€™t aprove of the standā€™s design what improvements would you suggest?

Bill

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Perhaps the people who built yours didn't do such a good job. The design looks stable, but if the joints were not well fastened I can see how they might not be stable. Three legs is actually a good idea, no matter how uneven the surface, all legs will be on the ground.

rc-sport

My Feedback: (12)

Pilotfighter, I have no idea what you are talking about, our club has 12 and it's the best addition to our field. I can honestly say that these stands have made starting a plane safer, a decline of prop related injuries proves it. Ours are almost 3 years old and very strong and stable, all were built with pressure treated lumber. We added front wheels so they could be moved for lawn mowing and we added a hook on the left vertical support to hang your radio on when starting. We even have one built with a lower table for the large aircraft. This past summer I went to another field that did not have starting tables and had to kneel on the ground, I found myself very nervous and awkward starting my plane. These stands should be at every field, I really believe flight line injuries would be reduced.

BillS

I should have also mentioned that my twins and a triple are especially dangerous to start on the ground. A stand goes a long way to avoid exposure when starting multiple engines and probably prompted the stand to be built for home.

Bill

CCRC1

My Feedback: (13)

My club built six of them and they were the best addition to the field we ever did. We are getting ready to add several more because they are in such demand. To help the guys flying larger high wing aircraft, extend the upright posts another 18". Much safer to use than working on the ground and the aircraft is held sturdily in place during run up. We also used exterior grade/pressure treated lumber. Ours show a little wear, but thats from all the use they get.
Its funny, when we first put them at the field they got a cold reaction especially from the "club elders". Once they tried using the stands and found how found how convienent they are, they raise a stink now when they are all occupied!
This is the first time I have heard anybody complain about them the way pilotfighter did in the earlier post. Its obvious that his were not properly constructed, as ours are rock solid.

TexasAirBoss

My Feedback: (22)

I don't know who built ours. Some well intentioned soul, no doubt. They appear to be built correctly. But they wiggle around. The entire pit area has been taken up by them. An area that had accommodated dozens of planes now has room for maybe 10. Now people are moving further down the runway to set up thier pits away from these tables.
It was just a huge mistake to install these things. And for what ? So you can stand up to start your plane ? I really don't see how it is worth it. I kneel down for two minutes to fuel and start up. I didn't realize I was such an athlete.
I understand that some folks have issues with thier backs or knees. I can see the benefit of having 1 or 2 of these tables for them.
Our field was beautiful. 100 acres of grass. The huge Texas sky. A perfectly groomed runway with six pilot stations. ( I also thought the pilot station fences were an eye soar when they came in vogue ). And now these things all over the pits. I guess I'm just old fashion, but I don't see the need for all of this hardware. I would rather see a beautiful field.

mirwin

My Feedback: (1)

Bill, is that some sort of fuel level gauge on your stand? If so, can you tell me a little about it, please?

Mike

CCRC1

My Feedback: (13)

Then they are not built correctly.

BillS

Mike,

The contraption is a homemade manometer and is used to measure muffler pressure in column inches of water. I thought there was too much pressure due to using Macā€™s pipes and was experimenting with restrictors in the muffler pressure line. The actual problems turned out to be several different component problems in the carburetors and my own ineptness at tuning.

I am not sure that I can quit flying anytime I want to.
[8D]

Bill

3drc tim

My Feedback: (6)

Our club in Connecticut has about 8 of these benches and just about everyone uses and likes them. We made ours out of donated pressure treated wood from Home Depot and they are heavy and steady. The benches are probably 4 years old now and are holding up well. Our field manager had thick plastic TX holders made that hang the TX's and on the front of the benches we have added additional space for the field boxes to fuel up the planes. A couple of our guys thought they were stupid in the beginning and now use them all the time. We really like ours.

Tim

Dave Holmes

I wish we had some of these tables at my club. You see, Pilotfighter, unlike Texas, we get that white cold stuff on the ground several months of the year. I have been out to the field twice in the past two weeks, and each time have had to shovel the snow off the pilot flight stones and concrete starting pads (which have built-in restraints to hold back the "tailfeathers" of your plane). I have a foam rubber kneeling pad that I use all year 'round (saves my arthritic knees) but even that is not really large enough to keep me off the ground all the time.

Yessir, a couple of these tables at the starting line would be just great, and I don't really think they would be an "eye soar" (sic) or an eye sore either.

Dave

rctrax

It is my opinion that all fields should some sort of off the ground stations for starting and tuning of aircraft. I have recently moved to an area where the field has no place to start engines exept from the ground and am quite aprehensive as to how I will be able to work with this difference as where I come from we had numeruos off the ground stations to work from. I am 76 years old and have much trouble getting up and down to work from the ground. much easier to start the engine on the stand and then put it idling on the ground to taxi out for takeoff.

3drc tim

My Feedback: (6)

Like I said earlier, the guys in our club use them a lot and like them. It is so much easier to get started and make engine adjustments on the stand, and then take the plane off the stand and taxi-out. The big benefit however, is that the plane is held for you by the wings, not the tail, and prevents many possible injuries. Here's a pic of one of ours with yours truly. (Well, I am not sure how to post an image, if someone reading this knows, please advise.)

Tim

8178

My Feedback: (17)

We have some of them at our field too and they do take up a lot of room. I think part ā€œGā€ takes up too much space and could reduced in length by at least one half.

mirwin

My Feedback: (1)

AMEN!

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

If you want to post a photo, use the post reply button at the bottom, not the fast reply. At the bottom of the reply box there is an uplode image link you want to use.

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Do they come in ARF, I mean ARUse form? We don't have any scratchbuilders at my field.[X(]

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I can assure you that there are plenty of clubs in Texas that use these tables. <g> We have six, for about 2 years now, and pretty much everybody agrees we need about 4 or 5 more.
Edwin

3drc tim

My Feedback: (6)

Here's the image I promised of the bench we use. It is pretty much from the AMA plans. We called the local Home Depot for a donation of pressure treated wood, and they agreed (they have a monthly donation budget.) Several of our members got together in one of our garages cut the wood, drilled the holes and hauled off the materials to the field for final assembly. One of our members was critically hurt when starting an untethered plane with the TX off (the plane jumped forward and ripped open his arm.) Our club has passed a safety rule stating that you must tie down the plane before starting or use the AMA benches. IMHO these benches are so much easier and safer that it just doesn't make sense not to use them. We put everything from small planes to 1/3 scale planes on these benches. As I mentioned, our field guy has added TX holder clips made from HD plastic and widened the front pads to hold field boxes while fueling, etc.

Tim

Steve

My Feedback: (54)

Safety should always be a priority at the field!! I've had a few close calls myself not using good safety protocal.