With the smaller size of some of todays park flyers and micro flyers it is easy to think that your flying field is adequate. The truth is that if you are a small field modeler and you decide to go larger you need to find an appropriate flying field. Of course this should be an AMA sanctioned club field.
I have an empty hay field beside the house that is about 2 acres square. I have tooled around it quite a few times with some small electric planes having wingspans of about 24″-36″. With that being said wouldn’t it make sense that any electric airplane that flew slowly would be just as suitable for that area? In my mind the answer was yes too.
I had just finished a scratch building an electric powered glider and it was too late to make it to the field before dark. Man it just felt like it would sail so nicely when I was holding it admiring my work! Being excited to see what it had to offer I gave it a quick glide test across the backyard but it just floated too far. I decided that I needed a larger are for a real glide test. After picking it up, I was on the way to the garage/shop to put it away until I could make it out to the local flying field when I glanced over at the neighbors field. I had flown in it before and figured a glide test wouldn’t hurt so off I went.
Once at the top corner that bordered my property I checked control throws once again and gave it a toss. It did pretty well but seemed a bit tailheavy. It was about 30 yards away when I figured why walk through all of that tall grass when I have a 400 speed motor on the nose. When I eased into the throttle to bring it around and fly it back to my starting point the glider climbed out great. Unfortunately it was a very quick climber and within a few seconds I was at treetop level.
I was able to simply fly a couple circles to lose altitude and made it back to myself but it really made me think. The same field that worked well for a park flyer was way to small for a larger plane even if it was a slower flyer than the smaller plane. Small fields pose other problems too. Often times there are obstructions such as houses, street traffic, light poles, fences, power lines, etc… Power lines and light poles are extremely hard to judge the distance of and very dangerous to say the least.
It is preferable that you only fly at an AMA sanctioned club field with any aircraft but with the micro and park flyers at the very least make certain that you are in a suitable area to fly them.
Happy and safe flying!!!!!!