As we prepare for what will hopefully be the best flying season ever, I'd encourage everyone to go to the TEMAC homepage and refresh their memory of our club safety rules.
Our motto is "Have fun. Be safe & be courteous." Our safety rules are also based on this philosophy, and extend the safety and courtesy to visitors and our neighbours. As the hobby progresses and there are more models and technologies for us to explore and have fun with, the safety considerations also need to be refreshed and adapted. Plus, last year we had huge growth and learned a few lessons associated with a larger membership, which we've acted upon.
So please, review our field and safety guidelines as a courtesy to your fellow club members and visitors, so that we can all continue to have fun at Rogo Field for years to come!
Look in the "Our Field" section of the www.Temac.ca (http://www.temac.ca) homepage, in the "Field rules and safety" section.
Reviewing the rules I have a couple questions of my peers and the executive.
Rule #8 is about noise. I have a couple planes that do create a fair bit of sound. Is there a level that can be measured or is it subject to the boards approval?
Low passes.
How low is low enough to require it be called out? My flying style is flying relatively low. I keep aware of other pilots and field activity but want to adhere to the rules. Do I alter my flying style or call low pass on every pass?
Center line of runway.
Would it be possible to request a line be installed on the field center line? I would gladly do some research into the lines used on baseball and sports fields.
I'm not questioning the rules here just trying to make sure I'm keeping up my end of the deal and continue enjoying TEMAC.
All great questions, Ed. Thank you for reviewing the rules and asking publicly because I'm sure others will have the same questions.
We debated at length the noise issue. In the end we arrived at the decision that we would not implement a level. Andy knows more about this than I do, but noise nuisance depends on frequency, altitude and duration. I'm sure there are other factors too. We're going to rely on common sense and the need for unanimous decision making (of the Board.)
For low passes, this wasn't discussed. And I guess this is also subjective. My personal opinion is that a low pass would be less than 30ft. Would love to hear the opinion of others.
We did discuss the center line issue. We're planning to use flour again (and I think we used some baking soda?) down the runway, to change the grass colour, just like the fun fly. I think it fertilized the grass or something? Just waiting for the grass seed to take a bit.
Hope this helps. As always, we'll consider member feedback to improve the fun and safety of the club.
S
My personal feeling is that any pass that's low enough that it would interfere with a take off/launch or landing would require being called out.
Jack.
Are you guys sure about rule number 10:
"Helicopters should be flown on the flying field in the pattern with due regard for the other pilots in the pattern. Hovering may be done south of the pit area."
I have never seen a helicopter flying in a pattern with other helicopters or planes. Although I haven't seen many Helicopters flying at Temac keep in mind that part of the fun with helicopters is stopping in mid air and flying backwards this is way they usually fly in a boxed area not in a pattern.
As for practicing Hovering - I guess it was meant south of the pit area and behind the flight line.
-Hope the Heli guys don't get me wrong, I love them but I have been in that side of the fence and unfortunately Heli's and planes do not mix well beside in a plastic trash bag.
Bobby
I guess like everything there are a couple of schools of thought on the subject. We tried to go "middle-of-the-road" and choose one that should work but we knew it would not please everyone.
Flying in the pattern and behaving like a fixed wing would seem safe yet if you stop or do any aerobatics in the pattern that would be dangerous. What we hoped was that if you wanted to do the fancy stuff you would peel off and do it outside the pattern.
If anyone has a better idea we would welcome the discussion.
Jack.
I have to agree with Jack. Bad things can happen between a helicopter doing stunts and
Most Epic RC mid air collision crash ever captured at SCCMAS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSHYpM1JDKE#ws)
Model aircraft safety at it's finest!
But they sure are having fun ;D
① FREE FLIGHT MAYHEM - BMFA NATIONALS RAF BARKSTON HEATH - 2013 (PART 1) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAxGzzQKOy0#ws)
Hmmmmmm
Not sure I would be comfortable with this! Would love to have heard or known the pilots briefing comments.
Quote from: sihinch on February 06, 2014, 08:51:56 PM
Hmmmmmm
Not sure I would be comfortable with this! Would love to have heard or known the pilots briefing comments.
I think the rules were limited to "Try not to spill your beer"
Ah the good old days.
What you did not get was the sound of lovely diesels running at full chat, the smell of caster oil and ether. I did and what glorious memories and flash backs I enjoyed.
You will notice they had lot's of officials shouting 'eads up'. What more do you need. Even the one's who got hit were only stunned. Of course it's hard to know with a Brit if he was stunned before or after. LOL.
Here's a picture. Put a recent ZD in among that lot, wouldn't that be a howl!
Jack.
ya know, as crazy as it looked (and was) to our disciplines eyes, it sure did bring back memories of the casual, fun side of the hobby. Everyone standing in a field with model airplanes. The kids even had their bikes there and even the wives were having a blast.
But I'm not recommending we take a page outta THAT book :)
Quote from: piker on February 06, 2014, 11:05:47 PM
it sure did bring back memories of the casual, fun side of the hobby.
Don't we have fun?
Of course! ;D
Sorry. That's not what I meant.
I guess I'm thinking more along the lines of walking out into a grassy field as a kid and tossing a free flight model into the air and watching what happens. Maybe the winter is making me feel nostalgic :)
That video looked like the first student night from last year. ;D
Believe it or not That was the normal aero modelling activity. You had the engine on a 10 second run. Either a measured amount of fuel or a clockwork cut off. There was no throttle so you were either on at full rpm or off. You will see some holding the model for some time. That's to let the tank run down to the 10 second mark. Under normal conditions the model would climb to height in a wide circle. the rudder had a trim tab although some built the rudder with some turn induced. The model would then glide down in a lazy circular style. If you got caught in a thermal you had a dethermalizer to get you down. The elevator was hinged and attached to a rubber band that pulled it to full up. You used some cotton to hold it down and you put a fuse in the cotton. Once the fuse burned through the cotton the elevator would flip and hopefully it would come down. I say hopefully because some times it would be out of site before the fuse worked. That is why so many had bikes, they were the retrieval crew.
That was far too windy and caused all kinds of stalls etc. The flying wing was neat. They were all the rage at one time. You used a Cox Pee Wee with an integral fuel tank. The engine was on a boom and the wing on the opposite side balancing each other. A second boom was weighted to give lateral balance. You started them on a sick with a nail, the head was removed, and when it got up to speed it would lift off and fly, anywhere it wanted. They were really neat. Before helicopter mechanisms. There is an awful lot in that video that I remember as a kid. Nice to know that some people still preserve the history of the hobby.
Jack.
I built some stick and tissue models as a young teenager and would walk to the large field near my house to fly them (as well as my early RC models... mostly gliders). One free flight model in particular was powered by the new TD.010 engine that was the cutest and tiniest engine I've seen. The plane would not get very high on a run.
One day, the wind was a bit stronger than I would usually fly in, but I figured it was O.K. as the plane didn't go very high. Well, apparently the engine hadn't worked in yet, until that flight, when it decided to pour on the power. The plane went up and up and up, and away. I searched through the woods for days after, but never found it.
I launched from location A, and I think the plane ended up in the woods at B, but maybe further. I'll never know ;D
https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=44.240972,+-76.425100&daddr=44.242586,-76.421589&hl=en&sll=44.24194,-76.426091&sspn=0.010699,0.020299&t=h&mra=me&mrsp=1,0&sz=16&z=16
I'd pay to be out in that field with that crowd having that much fun, while making some bangers and mash over a fire! Does it get better?