What day of the week, what time of day? Does the orientation of the runway to the sun dictate times to fly? I used to fly mostly in Hamilton TX at the Xed out runway at the airport. This is really an AM situation but I have flown evening(fly off the taxi way). I flew mostly weekdays. I'm currently in the Buzzard Busters of Hico TX and we have a main runway for AM and an evening runway too. Most flying is done on Sun Morning. I work lots of Sun mornings so......... I have been known to throw an elect. in the back yard but it's a virtual live oak mott so I climb many trees, not as fun at 46 years old as it used to be. :) Just wondering. mk
I prefer to fly in the early mornings. Don't know why, just do. Truthfully, I'll fly any time that there is sufficient light and the opportunity, but my druthers is early morning. I think it is because I have the most energy at that time of day. Things go downhill quickly after that.
I have some electric models, a couple of Wingos and a Dragonfly (or fire?) four that I threaten to fly in the front yard. Haven't done it as yet. I do have an electric fixed pitch heli that I will probably fly in the driveway, if I can ever get the stock battery into its cradle. My fingers don't work as they used to. Nothing does, but I guess that is common to all of us.
We have two really great flying clubs within 15 miles. I used to belong to one of them. Haven't remembered to renew my membership as yet. Am thinking about rejoining the one in Chattanooga and also joining the one in Dalton, GA, for the first time. Nice folks at both places, so I hear.
We have a Battlefield Memorial Park just a mile and a half away with lucious acres of mowed grass fields. I doubt that they would put up with anything loud and raucous, but I might be able to sneak in a flight or two with hand launched electric or Diesel powered models. I'm going to give it a try soon.
I could ask their permission, but I really don't think that they would say yes. At least I can fly until they run me off if I don't pester them. They might overlook my little toys.
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I have 3 kids at 5, 4 and 8 months. Needless to say, I fly when I can. :) Even if it rains a little. Seems the people at my club fly from early afternoon until the field closes at 9 PM due to neighbours wanting some peace and quiet. Come to think of it... they mostly talk hobby, smoke and drink coffee. I think they fly sometimes, but I can put a lot of money on the coffee pot logging more hours than all the planes put together! But THAT is what I like a lot about the hobby, The common interest makes it easy to make new friends and connections. Makes it easy for new members to join and feel at home right away!
Flying is at our club field, about 15 minutes away. Monday, Wednesday, Friday - from sun up until about 10:30 a.m. Maybe a bit later in winter months. It gets a bit warm here in the summer months so early morning flying is the practice. Evenings are nice, but that is martini time.
When I used to live in south Texas I used to fly at a schoolyard in the morning until around 10 o'clock when the daily wind usually started. At the deluxe flying field here in Kansas City the pilots stand facing east, which means that I don't fly in the morning because I hate looking at the sun. I also like to wait until most folks leave, so I usually go out 2 or 3 hours before sunset and fly until dark. As an added bonus, the wind usually dies off during that time. These conditions (few pilots, little wind, sun to your back) generally lead to lots of touch and go landings. Right now I'm working on a Whimpy that will be equipped with LEDs inside to enhance the twilight touch and go experience.
That's nice for those of us who like to fly a lot. Sometimes when I arrive and see ten cars at the field I might not expect to get a lot of flying time, but it usually turns out that most of their planes don't spend a lot of time in the air.
We fly in the morning for various factors. Sun at our back. Weather cooler specially now that summer rapidly approachs. Most of the zeros that occupy that park during the day are still sleeping off last night's drive-bys.
When it's not either raining (as it is today) blowing up a gale, or over
80 degrees, or below forty degrees, AND I remember to bring my transmitter, wing, flight box with charged battery, fuselage, AMA card, wing bolts and/or rubber bands, fuel, spare glow plugs, AND I can afford the gas to get to the field. Sigh.....
There are only 4 or 5 of us in our community that fly together, and we will usually get together on Wednesday after work or on Sunday afternoons. We don't have a formal club and are currently flying in the local industrial park until they decide to build something there. Needless to say, our filed is bare except for a windsock, freq board and a couple of empty cable reels for work tables. We have our flying area where the sun is at our backs during the day which works out good except in the late afternoon where a west approach might put you in the setting sun. It's not an ideal field, but it is only about 5 minutes away for any of us. For some reason lately, everyone has been busy with work or other projects and for the last month, I've been flying by myself. I find it more fun when you do have other folks at the field to compare planes and notes with. The b/s sessions between flights make it enjoyable also. Because of our location, we get a fair amount of visitors and spectators, so that is always fun. I was thinking about joining one of the area clubs so I wouldn't have to fly by myself all the time, but my 3 mile trip to the field would turn into a 24 mile trip, one way.. Bummer.. Our field:
You can see the size of the cars in the lot, right next to the fence. And there's a scale on the lower left corner of the map. I've never heard anybody say exactly how long the runway is...
It's big enough, that's for sure. Next to the paved runway is a grass runway that's always cut short, although it wasn't short enough today to keep my 15 size taildragger from nosing over. You can just barely see the outline of the short grass area in the photo.
I thought it would be really cool if you could see a plane in the photo. It looks like there were a few people at the field when the picture was taken. But I guess that's pretty unlikely. It would have to be a rather large airplane.
Sometimes in the morning before work, on the rare day when it's calm enough during daytime at work, and in the evening just before it gets dark - if I make it home early enough. I always fly with the sun more or less behind me, which means no flying in the morning at the closest R/C airstrip.
I hardly ever fly at a field (too far to drive), most often I fly in public parks or just out in meadows in the wild. I used to fly at Dekker Lake (
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), but at the moment I don't have floats on any of my planes. Besides, there is a youth detention facility in that area and it made me nervous.
1) Preferred:
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Altitude: 4310ft Dimensions:500x500ft (not including parking lot)
2) Alternative:
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Altitude: 4260ft Dimensions: 500x500ft (not including parking lot and dog area)
3) Uncut meadow near workplace:
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Altitude: ~8800ft (slight slope) Dimensions: 1500x1500ft
4) Closer to workplace:
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Altitude: 9230ft Dimensions: 1500x1000ft
5) Closest model airstrip that I know of:
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Altitude: 4210ft Dimensions: 540ft runway 380ft diagonal Flyers face east
When visiting my parents I tend to fly here: a) Grass field:
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Altitude: 260ft Dimensions: 350x370ft (large trees to the NW) b) Local club field:
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Club: Albatros Modellfluggruppe e.V. Gau-Algesheim Altitude: 280ft Dimensions: 700x180ft (medium/large trees SW) Flyers face north c) Local club field (sorry can't find it on satellite) Club: MFG Ingelheim e.V. Altitude: ~260ft Dimensions: ~300x100ft, might be slightly bigger Flyers face west
It parallels Aurora State airport about four miles east, so we see a fair amount of full scale traffic overhead. It's laid out north-south, with pilot stations facing east, but it's usually cloudy, so the morning sun isn't often a problem.
Check Google Earth. I locates hundreds of RC fields around the world. Not sure exactly how you get it, but somehow it showed up in my Google Earth program.
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