# R/C Pilot sneaking Flights on Private Flying Field **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2004, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-c-pilot-sneaking-flights-on-private-flying-field/242824 "2004-04-30T09:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Starguard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Starguard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starguard)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-c-pilot-sneaking-flights-on-private-flying-field/242824/1 "2004-04-30T09:40:31Z")
There is a certain R/C Flying field not too far from my house thats located in a Forest Preserve area. If I took my planes there to fly when no one was around, would I be wrong? Seeing that its located in Forest Preserve area, I don’t think that its privately owned, but there is a Flying club that meets there seasonally that I (at present) am not a member of…What do you think? Should I chance it? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-c-pilot-sneaking-flights-on-private-flying-field/242824/2 "2004-04-30T09:52:32Z")
I note that your location is “Chicago”. If it’s a formally designated RC flying field in a Chicago area forest preserve, membership in the AMA (that’s Academy of Model Aeronautics, not the doctor group) is a requirement of using the field. I won’t claim to know every area RC field, but I do know quite a few and they all have AMA membership as a requirement, largely for the insurance that comes with membership. To the best of my knowledge, all Chicago and Cook County forest preserves with RC fields have this requirement. So - if you have an AMA card, yes could fly there. If you don’t, you can’t. Or rather, you aren’t supposed to, and you could get into some sort of trouble if you were caught. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-c-pilot-sneaking-flights-on-private-flying-field/242824/3 "2004-04-30T09:52:52Z")
I note that your location is “Chicago”. If it’s a formally designated RC flying field in a Chicago area forest preserve, membership in the AMA (that’s Academy of Model Aeronautics, not the doctor group) is a requirement of using the field. I won’t claim to know every area RC field, but I do know quite a few and they all have AMA membership as a requirement, largely for the insurance that comes with membership. To the best of my knowledge, all Chicago and Cook County forest preserves with RC fields have this requirement. So - if you have an AMA card, yes you could fly there. If you don’t, you can’t. Or rather, you aren’t supposed to, and you could get into some sort of trouble if you were caught. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-c-pilot-sneaking-flights-on-private-flying-field/242824/4 "2004-04-30T09:54:10Z")
:smack: oops - sorry, my compute burped