Park flier

With the penchant for people to sue, I wouldn't fly at a park. If you hit someone event if they don't get hurt, you could find yourself in court. Find a proper flying field in your area.

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You make an excellent point, but, it does depend upon the layout and nature of the park too.

Ed Cregger

I wouldn't be at all comfortable flying in a park especially after having a cyclist on the runway that I was about to land on at a sanctioned (and very rural) and very obvious flying field. I was lucky that I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye or I would have certainly nailed the guy with my pattern ship.

In a park, people can "come out of nowhere" so quickly.....it just isn't worth the risk.....insurance or not.

It kinda makes ya wonder why they are called Park Flyer's!

Worn Out Retread wrote:

Four replies and not one of you even came close to answering the question that was asked. I think he wants recommendations on what kind of a plane to buy. My recommendations: in no particular order are: The Slow Stick by GWS. You can fly it easily in most any park. The second and third are: The Super Cub, and my own personal favorite, the J3 Cub by Parkzone. They all practically fly themselves. I'm sure your local hobby shop has all 3 of them in stock. The rest of you please feel free to flame me and tell me what terrible recommendations these are, but at least I made an effort to answer his questiion.

Odd that no one bothered to suggest the AMA park flyer program that has good answers to those questions. But we seem to be in the sling canard mode this week so go figure.

BTW, I like Vegasfan's suggestions - for what ever it is worth.

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If I knew the answer to his question, I would have sent it on its way to him.

However, unlike some newsgroup police members, I don't think that I know everything, so I try to participate in any way that I can.

Now, buzz off.

Ed Cregger

"Six_O'Clock_High"

That's because they don't.

Indeed.

There is no doubt that the damage a model can do is a complex function of its weight and wing loading. There is no doubt that some planes are much 'safer' than others.

The AMA however has got its knickers completely in a twist, and made some fairly dumb proposals - or had last time I bothered to look.

The formula I liked the best was described on the E-zone some time ago - simple and pretty effective, and similar to that that defines Microlights.

Take the weight in oz and divide by the span in inches.

Anything less than one is a large park flyer, less than 0.5 is a small park flier and less than 0.25 is practically harmless and/or suitable for indoor flying.

Anything over one is only to be flown in controlled airspace according to normal safety rules, and over 2, its a big model, and shouldn't be flown at all except at regulated sites.

Anyone with a set of scales and a tape measure an decide what class a model belongs in. It ain't perfect, but it certainly sorts out 7lb 5ft glow models from slow stiks.

I did some back of envelope calcs using that formula, and decided it was fairly close to my mental 'thats OK in the village playground' 'thats OK in a park ' and 'thats not OK really except at the club'

The magic value of one, is about the level at which a model is CAPABLE of causing death.

0.25 would be unlikely to do more than cause a bruise.

I think a slowstik is about 0.4 from memory, and a picostik about 0.2.

I suggest that people (whatever the AMA says), look at the models they want to fly n small spaces around people, and definitely NOT go for anything over 0.5 on this scale.

I have read all of the thread and noticed that nobody addressed wind speed. Here in the Texas Panhandle most of the suggestions would not be flyable most of the time as our average wind is over 15 mph.

If you have a local hobby shop, asking them what others are flying would be a good place to start. If not, have you visited where people are flying Park Flyers and taken note of what they are flying? How about indoor flyers? I have found that they are enthusiastic as well as very helpful in getting newbies started in the hobby.

The suggestion of the AMA Park Flyer program is good one. Even better would be getting a full AMA membership, which will allow you to have full flying privileges at a club field as well as $1.5 Million in insurance over your renters insurance. (You may have to join the club and pay dues there as well.)

Here is the link to the AMA website-

You missed the point. The recommendation of what kind of plane to fly in a park is non at all.

Bryan,

Two issues. One of which I'm sure will get mentioned to death. And that is flying in a Park can be risky. But some, if not all, Park Flyers can fly just fine in a traditional sanctioned field. This is what I would recommend.

Secondly... the plane. With even a modicum of experience, which it seems you already have, I would recommend a Park Zone T-28. Flies beautifully, looks great in the air and has no bad habits. I would replace the receiver with something else though. I used a Spektrum DX7 and have no regrets. Note: The 6 channel 2.4 ghz receivers are in short supply)

Personally I think they fly better from a paved strip but still a great plane.

Regards

Bill

| The formula I liked the best was described on the E-zone some time ago - | simple and pretty effective, and similar to that that defines Microlights. | | Take the weight in oz and divide by the span in inches. | | Anything less than one is a large park flyer, less than 0.5 is a small | park flier and less than 0.25 is practically harmless and/or suitable | for indoor flying.

My Hera glider. About 80 oz, 118 inch wing span. That gives you a figure of 0.67. It's bigger than your average park flier, but I'm reasonably comfortable flying it in a park (but a winch or full hi-start in the park is problematic), and I'll bet it could do 100 mph in a dive (it's very sleek, and very stiff.)

My Impulse Classic electric glider. About 48 oz, 100 inch wing span. Formula = 0.48, small park flier, but I'd disagree. It does most of it's flying in the local park.

| The magic value of one, is about the level at which a model is CAPABLE | of causing death. | | 0.5 is capable of moderately serious injury. | | 0.25 would be unlikely to do more than cause a bruise.

I'd say both of these gliders could kill, especially the Hera. (The Impulse is a good deal slower, but top speed into a head ...)

The formula could probably be improved if it was based on top speed and weight rather than span and weight. Perhaps (speed)^2 * weight? After all, it's the kinetic energy is what we're worried about ...