Beginner questions about park flyers?

Skatedude

Lo.
I've been trying to get into rc flying, but have a few questions about starting out and keeping it all legal etc so as not to cause problems for existing flyers.

I have read the information regarding rc flying and understand the need to insurance, club membership etc . But the rules seems to apply to models over 1.5kg and the materials used.

What about the sub 1.5kg ready to fly foamies and micro etc. can they be used in public places, ie larger parks, beaches? Obviously only when no people around etc. And is there any specific rules?

I'm just learning to fly and have no problem joining MACi etc when i progress to larger planes, But just want to learn the basics first with cheaper options.

Cheers

peter bermingham

Them light planes can be a nightmare to fly in the wind the Irvine Tutor 40 the boomerang and the wat 4 their all good starter planes and can be got both in nitro and electric. The tutor and the boomerang are both balsa frame and the wot is foam have flown the tutor lovely plane to fly and have seen the wot in action nice plane to. If you cant fly join a club or you wont last 20 seconds they go out of control very fast, as for flying on a beech i wouldn't unless your fairly good at flying and even then if something happens your in the ****. You need a huge open space for flying especially at the beginning. Have seen a fella land a plane in a 30 foot square garden but he was good he fly's jets. With joining a club they will setup and fly your plane to make sure everything is as it should be it will save you hundreds of pounds .With the club if it goes wrong theirs somebody their to take over and save you. http://radiocontrolledshop.ie/

coolwings

Flying in proximity to the public with a fast moving machine is not the cleverest thing to do. People sue if you damage them or their children, cars, property, etc. So flying over public lands is not a good idea, but there are always chancers flying models, driving fast, taking chances and so on. Eventually events catch such people out and they get a tough lesson. Now if you have permission from a farmer who has several fields, flying from the middle one is probably a controlled risk to others, but with erratic safety procedures you can still take a finger off with a propeller blade spinning at 10,000 rpm and who is there to help is that happens? Not scaring buy just pointing out some of the issues regular fliers, or clubs have already sorted out.

As Peter above said, when learning you need a huge space. For instance if you are for example standing on the centre line of a football pitch, and are a learner, a successful landing will often be outside the pitch, stands, and in the next field beside. If it was smooth and the right way up it was a successful landing. As for positioning it to land in front of you, that comes later.

As for weight, models of a kilo and up can cope with an average nice day in Ireland, but we have double the wind, both speed and days on which it blows, compared to eg the US, or continental Europe, so we in Ireland would describe many of the light parkfly models made for those markets as "an indoors model".

Best of luck, it's a great hobby.

Skatedude

Unfortunately i live in the city and dont know any farmers, or land owners etc, nobody really does in the bigger cities. the only thing we have access to is public parks and spaces and hence asking about basic park flyers etc.

obviously bigger models need far more space which is why i'm sticking to the smaller beginner models for now. I've contacted the leinster club from the phoenix park a while ago, but got the impression that park flyers etc were not good enough for the club and really deal with more advanced flyers. Was told to learn the basics first.

I know it's a great hobby and i scratch built a number of line control planes years ago, but could never afford to get into real r/c due to the high cost back then.

Simply put, how does a novice get into rc planes without knowing people with farm land etc?

peter bermingham

Would this place be to far for you to go to Newbridge and District Model Flying Club
Contact: Eamonn Keenan
Phone: 045-434694
Email: eamonnkeenan@yahoo.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe_wQkTX6Ic&feature=player_detailpage


Have seen posts before about the leinster club not saying any more or ill get myself in trouble

Skatedude

Cheers for the info guys.
Is it possible to join maci to get insured without joining a club? I live 10 mins from the phoenix park so it would be ideal. Bearing in mind that these are rtf foamies.

peter bermingham

No maci insurance only covers you on a club field. Can you fly

Skatedude

Tried joining leinster club with maci insurance 3 times over the last 18 months, but no joy and the cheques were not cashed, cant we use anything a bit more modern as online banking, credit card or pay pal, had to get my grandmother to write the cheques as no one really uses them anymore.

My experience is mostly with gas rc cars and i used to do line flying years ago.

Gremlin

Skatedude, you sound exactly where I was a while back. I started off with an ultra micro spitfire. From all accounts not the easiest for a beginner. Anyway with a lot of care and a few bumps I managed to get it up and running. I used to wait until late in the evening then take it to the local football fields. If there was anyone around, I'd wait until they were gone or just keep it away from them. I too had a job getting LMFC to cash my cheque but they did eventually. I let it expire so I'm gonna wait until march to renew as it would be a waste of money to renew now.

Since then I've been having great fun building foamies from flitetest.com. If you are any good at building stuff, their ft trainer is a great little plane for beginners. All the plans are free and there is amazing build videos. I give you fair warning building the FT range is totally addictive!! Because they're only made of foamboard, if you thrash them its no biggie as long as the electronics survive!

Anyway as the guys said anything under 1kg is exempt from registration, BUT if you plan to fly over 15m and under the 120m absolute ceiling registration is still necessary.

Also I got good value from using PC based sims. Not exactly totally realistic, but you do learn the basics, sense of direction etc and get a good feel for the amount of control input required, all without the worry of breaking your shiny new model!

Skatedude

I used to build diesel engine control line flyers from scratch 20+ years ago just with plans and a trip to the model shop near bride street for materials (i think it was bride st) and had as much fun building them as flying them, but full rc planes back then were hugely expensive so couldn't afford to get into the sport.

Now i can afford it but cant seem to get into a club, so therefore cant get maci insurance. and i wont fly in the phoenix park unless I'm covered. not fair to jeopardise the club by flying uninsured, even if it is just rtf trainers until I learn to fly better.

I know about the 1kg rule for drones, but does that mean i can use the phoenix park for sub 1kg electric foamies without club or maci?

I have 2 rtf foamies in the shed for the last 10 months for learning but was trying to get membership sorted first, i also have 3 gas cars, 2 onroad and an offroad, but waiting for better weather to see about joining st annes club,

I did have a electric rc grasshopper many, many years ago, but it sucked back then with primitive motors and short battery life, also had a mardave maurader gas car which used to eat the foam rubber tyres and would take weeks or more to get spares (pre internet). but i had access to a private carpark back then which was big enough for the control line flyers and cars. now i just have a small shed.

Skatedude

sorry, double post