Is it alright to fly a gas powered r/c airplane in a public park (several soccer fields)if the park is large enough and no one is around to get in the way of… Or maybe a gas powered r/c buggy?
Yes, provided that
- you are not violating any federal, state, local laws or ordinances while doing so
- you have the permission of the landowner, if applicable (private property, perhaps local government, school district, whatever)
- you are not too close to a “real airport” or posing a hazard to aerial navigation
- you, your equipment, and your RC transmissions do not pose a hazard to anyone else.
Please keep in mind you can and most likely will be held responsible for any and all damages or injuries resulting from your activities. Please fly safe and have fun.
If you´re planing to buy/build a plane you may want to look for “Park-flyers” or “Slow-flyers”, these are electric powered models that are more suitable for small flying fields; they are much less noisy and safer to fly around people and property; as a plus, you don´t have to deal with the messy fuel.
You may consider membership in the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics). Among other things you get liability insurance as long as you follow their safety code.
I highly recommend a Park Flyer. I used to fly larger gas models and sailplanes, but I’ve never had as much fun as I have with my little $69.00 GWS Park Flyer. You can get combat planes, aerobatic planes, trainers, speed racers, and they can all be safely flown in a local park. No messy fuel, almost no knockdown and setup time, and the easiest of them are much easier to fly. And, they’re cheap. You can buy them for as little as $100 including the radio equipment.
I have one that I bought from Radio Shack a few months ago (a de-duct fan jet powered Military Fighter ). I haven’t flown it yet, I’m still waiting for the weather to get better.
I’ll also recommend a park flyer - there are too many gas-engined planes as it is right now. They’re actually starting to cause problems, because of the noise and liability. With the new brushess motors and battery technologies, electric planes have pretty much eclipsed gas planes in most areas.
I can tell you from personal experience that you learn quicker and better on an electric. It’s also possible to teach yourself, where with a gas plane you’ll need a buddy box and someone to help you. When you crash (and you will), you’ll probably be able to pick the plane up and throw it in the air again - try that with a gas plane. The durability does wonders for learning stunts - you’ll have the freedom to anything you want, without the fear of doing costly damage to the plane, or anything the plane might hit.
I’s recommend against flying a gas plane in a public park. They can do a lot of damage, and when more and more people are buying the cheapo $100 “Firebird” planes and their ilk, that means a higher chance of being shot down by radio interference. To paraphrase a statement made about paragliders, if you make an aircraft easy enough for a monkey to fly, you’ll soon have a sky full of flying monkeys. I’ve seen many irresponsible people flying the cheap planes, and I’ve had my $400 electric sailplane shot down by a moke who thought that AM channels were different than FM channels. (A lot of people think that, for some reason)
Also, you don’t need 45 minutes to start the thing, you don’t have to mess with the engine, and you don’t have to clean all of the slime off of it after you fly.
Is it really possible to teach yourself? I live on a farm and have lots of room to fly one without hitting anything that I’m going to damange. I’d love to learn to fly one, but don’t know anyone who does, and don’t have time to attend a club.
If someone wanted to teach themselves, what do you need? What plane would you recommend? What else do you need to buy? Where is the best place to buy one?
slight hijack -
If you want to teach yourself, either make sure you have lots of money and patience for repairs, or take a look at a flight simulator. They can be expensive (a few hundred dollars in the end), but well worth it in the long run. I bought the Great Planes RealFlight simulator several years ago when I was starting R/C and having problems with landings. After practicing on the sim for a few hours, I was able to grease in landings regularly, which meant I could have more then one flight per day!
The sims aren’t perfect (nothing can simulate your natural field of view, and squeezing all that space into a 17 inch monitor definately has it’s drawbacks), but I’ve found the sims to be really helpful.
As for the OP - I’ve found that many times, landfills are used by flying clubs. They generally aren’t used for anything else, they’re often elevated a bit and are usually removed from the general population.
The park flyer trainers that are out there are exceedingly easy to fly. They are also very slow, which gives you lots of time to react, and if they crash they are usually easily repairable, since they are going so slowly.
I bought a [url=http://www.modelflight.com.au/rc_model_electric_planes/gws_pico_cub.htm] GWS Pico Club. Built in an evening, cost $69 Canadian. Electronics pack, including battery, another $149. I already had a radio from my larger models. I also spent $69 for a good portable charger. I highly recommend this setup for a beginner. I was amazed at how easy that airplane was to fly. Justs toss it out of your hand, and it slowly climbs away from you.
The ONLY disadvantage to the small park flyers is their lack of wind penetration. If you live in a windy area, it can be tough finding good flying days. For that reason, this spring I’m going to get a faster plane. Still a foam park flyer, though. Just a faster one, like the new GWS WWII Fighters.
Re Kansas Beekeeper and teaching yourself:
My brother got a GWS Slow Stick trainer and took me to the park with him. Such Fun! He flew around for a couple of minutes and then landed. Then he handed me the box and said, “Your turn.”
He showed me what the controls did and I spooled up the throttle and he launched it. The passengers complained about the turbulence on that first flight but I didn’t crash, though the landing was a little rough.
So I’d say that you can certainly teach yourself with one of these types. It’s nice to have someone experienced to help you with center of gravity and general set-up but not crucial. My brother’s moving up to a Tiger Moth and I’m going to buy his trainer and get a radio. It’s really fun.
To get started I can´t stress enough the importance of starting from the basics, a great way to do that is with Hand Launched Gliders , you´ll learn to “feel” the flight of a plane quickly and at low expense, how to fix things, etc…
I´ve seen time and time again R/C pilots (not necessarily rookies) with no grasp of the principles of flight smash their models in the ground, when a little background with HLG would have tought them how to correctly place the center of gravity, or some other basic mistake like that.
Besides HLG are great fun! 
The GWS planes are good for beginners; I like the Tiger Moth myself. I’ve had two, and I fly combat and stunts with them. A great choice for durability is one of the flying wings that are out there, such as the Zagi THL with a lightweight power system, or one of the Wing Warrior planes. They’re easy to build, and almost impossible to break.
I’d also recommend a simulator, and you can download a decent program called Flying Model Simulator for free. It’s a very popular sim, and you can get just about any plane modeled on it. Just hunt around with a search engine & you’ll find it.
This is one area of aviation where a flight simulator for the PC pays off.
The Broomstick family has the Great Planes RealFlight, which has a box just like the R/C planes use that plugs into your computer. This is good, because you’ll be flying the simulator with the same sort of controls you’ll use in the real world.
Don’t invest huge amounts of money in your first R/C plane because you WILL crash it multiple times. The foam-wing parkflyers/slowflyers cause less damage on impact and fly slower (but are not good for windy days) giving you more time to react. Foam wings are also repairable. If you have a supply of sytrofoam building insulation of the proper thickness you can also make a replacement wing from it when your fist wing is busted beyond repair.
There are guys out there building their R/C parkflyers from scratch using styrofoam and other bits found at the local hardware store, then mounting electric engines and the plastic props. Parts are cheap, and it hurts less when the inevitable smash comes.
By extra propellors. You will need those, too.
There are R/C flying clubs on the Internet - I can either recommend my local club (which may not be anywhere near you) or you can look on your own. These clubs can be a source of advice, support, and plans for building your own whether a simple wing-on-a-stick design or a scale replica of a warbird.
If you have your own land and you fly only there you won’t need to join the AMA, but if you’re just starting out you may find them a useful source of information even if you never wind up meeting another member in person. On the other hand, they may have a club nearby you aren’t aware of. Most R/C fields in my area require AMA membership in order to fly there, primarially for the liability insurance membership provides.
Why do you need liability insurance? Because you can get hurt by an R/C plane, particularly those little whirling plastic bits that make them go forward. There was a thread on this not too far back which, for some reason, I am completely unable to find. So remember - safety first!