A Solution....Yes its about AMA

| Yea there is. I can start fiddling with my brand spanking new | synthesized transmitter until I "accidently" find your | frequency. One of the most impressive sights I have seen in the | hobby is that of how foam explodes into a white cloud on impact.

... but that's not nearly as impressive as the sight of a fully built up, giant scale plane disintegrating as it smacks into concrete (or a car or building) at 100 mph.

And if you think that's a valid solution to the problem of a park flier flying nearby, you're an asshole. And if you actually do it, you're a criminal, and if I were to see you doing it, I'll treat you as such, even if you were a member of my club -- meaning I'd tell the victim and club management, tell the police if he wants to call them, testify in court, etc.

And even if you are a bonafide asshole, you don't want to play this game. The club has so much more to lose than a lone park flier -- not only are your planes generally much more fragile, larger, faster and more expensive, but your site itself would be in serious jeopardy if it were ever found that a club member ever intentionally interfered with somebody else's plane and caused damage or especially injury. Accidents are one thing -- but intentionally damaging somebody else's property (or causing injury) is criminal and would probably land you in jail and could get the club booted out if it could be proven.

Here in Austin, Texas, there's three AMA clubs nearby -- HCAM, ARCA and the ASF. I don't know much about ARCA, so I won't comment on them, but HCAM and ASF both have sites on public parks.

HCAM is very well established, and their site takes up about half of a city park, but has exclusive use of that section of the park. There's a paved runway, building, storage units, porta-potty and a locked gate. I believe we rent it from the city for some tiny figure -- $1/year or something. AMA is required, but membership is not, at least not for just a few flights.

ASF is a electric/glider club, and brand new. They have permission to fly at their park and a section set aside for them, but so far have not been allowed to make any improvements to the park whatsoever. For now, their site is just a field off to the side of the park with no gate or even a sign. AMA is required, IC engines are prohibited.

I don't know if ASF has exclusive rights to it's property, and so I don't know if they could refuse to let a park flier fly directly with them, even without AMA. Knowing how some of the people in that club are, if somebody tried and was stubborn about it, it would probably get ugly. Hopefully it won't ever happen.

But HCAM does have exclusive rights to it's site -- but not over the rest of the park, right next door. Austin does not prohibit R/C flying in it's parks, so there's nothing stopping a park flier from flying in that part of the park, or at the middle school a few hundred yards away. And it has happened, and will continue to happen.

When it has happened in the past, some members have flown off the handle and done I don't know what. And then it was brought up in the meeting where people were all saying `they can't do that!' ... at least until it was explained to them that the law says no such thing. They have as much legal right to fly there as we do at the AMA field. We could try and get the parks department to ban R/C flying in the parks except for our field, but it was decided (rightfully so) that that wasn't very fair, and would cause problems for other people, and that wouldn't actually solve the problem anyways, because there's lots of private property near there park where people could fly too.

Ultimately, it was suggested that if somebody notices a park flier, people should land and go over and talk to him, find out what frequency he's on, explain the problems, and suggest that he either not fly there, or at least come over and work out frequency sharing before he turns his transmitter on. As far as I know, most people have been agreeable to this when approached like this, and there have been no incidents. Most of the time the park fliers are on 27 mHz so it's much less of an issue, but when they were on 72 mHz, people just put in a note in the frequency board saying that there was a park flier over there, and it works fine.

The very best solution would be to invite them to fly with us at the field rather than near the field, but since the regulations absolutely require AMA membership, that's really not an option most of the time. Which is really too bad -- but the AMA doesn't really have much to offer your casual park flier, so there's little incentive for them to join.

Reply to
Doug McLaren
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Reply to
jim breeyear

Reply to
jim breeyear

Roger that, but do we need all the bricks and mortar in Muncie to pull it off! Never used to be that big. Reston, Va I think.

Doug McLaren wrote:

Reply to
jim breeyear

sounds like a great solution to me. Frequency On Attack Mission, F.O.A.M.

Reply to
jeboba

Is there even a club in that area anymore? Reston I mean! What county is it in?

Reply to
C.O.Jones

OK! So maybe the ego is you?

I knew an MJC once! Cheated on his wife left and right. You wouldn't be the one would you?

Buy hey! Just to stay on topic, it takes me about three minutes to get to my flying site! And I don't have to worry about ignorant clowns like you who can do no better than name call! Sticks and stones and all that!

Now fly away little boy! You bother me!

NOT!

intentionally

Reply to
C.O.Jones

Ah so! The AMA approves of you being an asshole! That does explain much!

Reply to
C.O.Jones

How many of his foamies can you shoot down for the price of one of your 1/4 scale?

Reply to
C.O.Jones

Doug,

I agree with you! He's as asshole!

But on a lighter note, you're dead on in the way this whole thing works. Which is why I mentioned courteous earlier. Simply because one can catch more fly's with honey than they can with vinegar. But it's obvious, just as you pointed out, that some club/AMA members think they have exclusive rights to anything they deem theirs (including this NG). And by that they do more harm to the hobby and the AMA than they do good. The AMA would actually be better off if they all just dropped dead!

Keep it up! Chuck

Reply to
C.O.Jones

Reply to
Roger

Consider that if you "accidentally" did this on propose you just might be paying more than you bargained for. Not all parkflyers are foam. Some are balsa....RTF, ARF, BIY, Plans only, or scratch..... 3D, Sport, Trainer,....all types. Add the price of a brushless motor, ESC, gearbox, lipos, radio gear. Add this all up and you WILL go beyond the price of a club trainer or sport/ areobat plane. Even some foam ARF's cost some bucks. And, parkflyers do use those wonderfull high tec computer radios. So you wanna wreak someones model in which they took weeks to months to build??? Just like yours

Mike

Reply to
Mike R

Reply to
Roger

Ahh, but that is the point here. The anarchists keep saying that you HAVE to accept any interference and they can use any channel they want because the LAW doesn't prevent it.

Reply to
Paul McIntosh

I think that there should be information given at the time of a purchase (local hobby shops) of an electric or fueled airplane as to where the local clubs fields are and who to contact to discuss interference, and frequency usage. I should think people would like to know if they could be shot down. Maybe new pilots think their signals are heard by only their receiver. On a lighter note, I overheard a conversation in a shop where a newbie wanted another of those electric airplanes like he bought last week. Shop owner wanted to know if he crashed the first one, and pilot replied , no, the wind got it and it was blown out of sight. WWWTP? The shops might not want to do it. Once I asked a local Vet to give handouts to dog owners regarding the leash laws and he said "no way, none of my business".

Reply to
jim breeyear

this is why I bought a monitor/scanner with all the channels programmed. I listen to it before I fly. Hopefully the signals I hear match the pin board. Yes I am on the ground but at least it is one data point. (CYA) Belonging to AMA doesnt give anyone rights to frequencies. Everything they give out seem to be guidelines/recommendations.

Has anyone ever experienced their control surfaces going nuts(xmitter off) while the guy in the next pit is running his electric fuel pump?

Reply to
jim breeyear

With no controlling signal on the correct frequency, receivers and servos will respond to almost any spurious electrical signal. It's the performance with the TX turned ON that's important. Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Reply to
Dr1Driver

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