Is this hobby in decline?

[Granpappy]

In parallel to that however, prices of good 2nd hand helis, radios and everything have come down drastically. It's amazing what you can get for the money now vs just 4 or 5 years ago if you take your time. Top of the line FBL units routinely go for £100.00 2nd hand and many less expensive alternatives are out there, Hobbyking has the UK warehouse making LiPos cheaper etc. etc. So it has never been cheaper to get into the hobby.

That could be an indication that people are giving up on the hobby, or alternatively sticking with it and moving on to better equipment. I can't comment whether the hobby is in decline because I am not a member of a club only having recently started flying again. I do have my application in with the only local club that caters for fixed wing and helis, but it's 2 months down the road now and still on going.

I think anyone who is in this hobby for the long term are going to want to join a club simply to learn, and to share their experiences. From past experience, some clubs can be a bit elitist and that would definitely intimidate new flyers. Most clubs are very welcoming and friendly though. I guess it's a post code lottery.

For myself, I need to scratch the itch before I eventually get into the club I've applied to. So I take my heli up on the heath and fly when I can. I hate flying alone, and in a club it was always nice to take a break between flights and see what other flyers are up to. Alone, the only break I get between flights is battery changes so I invariably end up with a nervous twitch after I have finished flying.

I guess because of the huge availability of RTF's and BNF's, people are going to dip their toe in the water and see what it's all about. I should imagine a good percentage of these people will not be in the hobby for the long term.

Until I am accepted in to a club I will just have to annoy people on this site with my ramblings. At least I know I am talking to hardened fans of the hobby even if I do talk a bit of nonsense at times.

[Peteski]

I'm not sure 'the hobby' is in decline, but it is changing.

With the increasing popularity of electric power (in planes and helis) along with the availability or 'ready to fly' models (especially fixed wing and multi-rotors) many people just dont even think about joining a club. They just fly in parks, sports fields etc. 'Back in the day' it used to be that it was so challenging to build, setup, and fly RC models, especially so helis, that you really needed the support of a club to stand a chance. the local model shop would be the main source of parts for your build and they would invariably steer any newcomers to the local clubs. These days most beginners just order on-line, it turns up at the door, you charge the batteries and fly at any local field, or even your garden. Even the flying part is made easy by auto stabilised GPS guided systems.

So why would these people join a club, they are most likely unaware that clubs even exists.

This is certainly true for me venturing into the hobby recently. Haven't felt the need to join a club yet and I really don't have the time! That's the other thing that's changing. People are increasingly busy these days and free time to go to a club is difficult to find. If decent BNF micros didn't exist I wouldn't have bothered with the hobby, simple as that. No doubt that multi-rotors are on the increase too which may have steered quite a few newcomers away from helis.

[Peteski]

I think that the mobile phone craze is probably the reason for the decline they all have the latest expensive so called phones with equally crazy priced contracts they just can't afford a hobby they're lives are controlled by Facebook and Twitter and any conversation they have with each other is centred around the latest phone to have and what has been posted on social media sites a total waste of time. In case you are wondering I have a mobile an old Nokia that only texts and phones. A bit of a rant but it's the way I see it.

What a bizarre theory!!

[bikerflier]

We are mixed flying club.
10 years ago no helis. 70 limit on members, full and always a waiting list of 10+
5 years ago increased to 80 limit. Full and 5+ waiting.
Helis started to appear.
Now limit 100, but only 67 members.
Main activity is helis now.
Without the increase in heli new members in the last 5 years we would be down to 40.
We did see friction from plane flyers as heli activity increased and quite a few plane flyers moved elsewhere.
Every new year we would face problems trying to give new members instruction. Now we have only one learner.
One thing over the last two years has been the wind. It certainly seems to have been windier all year round. We rarely see a plane in the winter, mainly due to the wind.
We've noticed how, on the rare calm day we comment how it's so nice to fly instead of battling the wind. Never seemed to notice that before.
Windier days seem the norm.
We have started to invite cub and scout groups also Air Cadets groups for evening experience flights. At least introducing the youngsters to the hobby, hope some take it up.
We also have Maplins using the site for quad tryout sessions. They bring invited customers for a quad tryout. May pick up a member here and there.

[Jez N]

I'm pretty sure that there are more people into this hobby now than there were 10 years ago and many many more than 20 years ago.

Times change and so does the way people participate in hobbies. No longer is rc heli flying just about a bunch of guys with fold out tables and chairs, a thermos and a gallon of pink smelly liquid fiddling with 30, 50 and 90 size models.

Now people can fly models in their living room if they choose and certainly in any field up and down the country. They can also get any information from forums and online tutorials/videos as well as learning cost free on a sim. So the necessity to join a club for advice and buddy boxes just isnt there anymore.

With these changes comes a younger generation of addicts, who possibly dont really see themselves at a club aimed at a mixed group of modelers who enjoy the rules and regulations surrounding the hobby. Their interest probably isnt into scale or precision flight, but more into thrashing about etc. Heli only clubs may therefore be more of an attraction and possibly have a younger demographic? Who knows, it would be interesting for the BMFA to do a population survey of their members and affiliated clubs and see what is happening.

Is this hobby in decline? I don't think so. Are clubs in decline, possibly. But maybe that is something that clubs need to think about and address looking forward? Can many people in mixed clubs imagine some of their members tolerating Don doing sliding autos down their landing strip?

[Paz26181]

The amount of information on the net and forums has made it possible to learn and repair models without the help of club members. Imo i think that has made this hobby more accessable for those like me. I have a farm i fly in which is less than a mile from home, i can pop over whenever it is convinent for me. Whereas i'd have to make it a day event each time to visit a club which i dont have the time for.

It would be interesting if someone can set up a survey on here to see how many member fly with a club or not.

[jboweruk]

I'm pretty sure that there are more people into this hobby now than there were 10 years ago and many many more than 20 years ago.

Times change and so does the way people participate in hobbies. No longer is rc heli flying just about a bunch of guys with fold out tables and chairs, a thermos and a gallon of pink smelly liquid fiddling with 30, 50 and 90 size models.

Now people can fly models in their living room if they choose and certainly in any field up and down the country. They can also get any information from forums and online tutorials/videos as well as learning cost free on a sim. So the necessity to join a club for advice and buddy boxes just isnt there anymore.

With these changes comes a younger generation of addicts, who possibly dont really see themselves at a club aimed at a mixed group of modelers who enjoy the rules and regulations surrounding the hobby. Their interest probably isnt into scale or precision flight, but more into thrashing about etc. Heli only clubs may therefore be more of an attraction and possibly have a younger demographic? Who knows, it would be interesting for the BMFA to do a population survey of their members and affiliated clubs and see what is happening.

Is this hobby in decline? I don't think so. Are clubs in decline, possibly. But maybe that is something that clubs need to think about and address looking forward? Can many people in mixed clubs imagine some of their members tolerating Don doing sliding autos down their landing strip?

I think you may have just hit the proverbial nail on the head. It's so easy now to get helis you can fly in your back garden, in the street and even in the living room now. So people aren't going to the flying fields and clubs so much. Newbies are coming in with tiny 3 and 4ch indoor machines and progressing to 6ch indoor machines.

[feathering]

Larger RC helicopters are demanding and finding alternatives that don't require such level of commitment is becoming easier: quads and micro RTF heli packages are good examples. I presume that the number of people that fly RC is higher than it has ever been but just a few end up choosing something that requires going to the club to fly.

Joining a club is a commitment in its own right. Flying a micro helicopter in the garden takes no time and going to the club also requires the means to get there: personally my car is fully booked for driving the kids to birthday parties, music lessons and sport events during the weekend. So I will be flying micros for a while.

To the extent that it is easier to get started with flying it may also be easier to exit the hobby perhaps because the time and money investments are not that substantial. This makes the hobby rather transient leading to fewer folks committed long-term to the club.

[Dannyyy]

After going to Weston Park last weekend, keeping in mind that I quit the hobby 3 years ago and this was my first event since I quit, I knew within the hour of being there that the hobby was completely different to what it was when I was flying. When I was flying everybody knew everybody, people would cheer and joke about with each other but now there is none of that... And where is all the good flying gone? Everyone seem that fly above 10 foot and not go any lower, whats the point in that?! It use to be all wbout flying low, stuipdly high tail slides and "crack".
Yeah there was some great flying but now I feel its just about getting as many sponsors as posiable and all about money for the conpanies, that together has just ruined the hobby and its running it into the ground. If you havnt got any sponsors then you might aswell just quit.

[myxiplx]

The amount of information on the net and forums has made it possible to learn and repair models without the help of club members. Imo i think that has made this hobby more accessable for those like me. I have a farm i fly in which is less than a mile from home, i can pop over whenever it is convinent for me. Whereas i'd have to make it a day event each time to visit a club which i dont have the time for.

It would be interesting if someone can set up a survey on here to see how many member fly with a club or not.

I have to agree with this and the comments about smaller models. While I am a member of my local club, having two young kids and a busy job means I don't often get time to visit. I've probably only been up to the flying field a dozen times in the last two years.

But in that time I've learnt a ton from the forums, and I've got over a thousand flights in either at work or in my back garden, and probably 2-3 times that number of flights on the sim. I'm now at the stage that even though I'm not at the club often, I'm able to offer advice on the forums and help other beginners, and I'll happily build, fly or repair any helicopter.

The clubs are great to give you a place to fly the larger models, but there's a huge amount of the hobby nowadays that you can enjoy anywhere and any time it suits you.

[Gate88]

I have read the replies above and a lot of people are of the opinion that there's just a downturn in people joining clubs but that's not really my point. Clubs are just one area that I've noticed a drop. Surely it would follow though that if people were just flying on their own then there would be more people on here (and other forums) looking for advice and tips that they might normally get from club mates.
And I know the reasons that many people don't take up the hobby, finances, family, time etc but those things haven't just come about in the last couple of years, surely people have always had those issues but still the numbers rose during the early part of the decade.

[Sheldrake]

We are mixed flying club.
10 years ago no helis. 70 limit on members, full and always a waiting list of 10+
5 years ago increased to 80 limit. Full and 5+ waiting.
Helis started to appear.
Now limit 100, but only 67 members.
Main activity is helis now.
Without the increase in heli new members in the last 5 years we would be down to 40.
We did see friction from plane flyers as heli activity increased and quite a few plane flyers moved elsewhere.
Every new year we would face problems trying to give new members instruction. Now we have only one learner.
One thing over the last two years has been the wind. It certainly seems to have been windier all year round. We rarely see a plane in the winter, mainly due to the wind.
We've noticed how, on the rare calm day we comment how it's so nice to fly instead of battling the wind. Never seemed to notice that before.
Windier days seem the norm.
We have started to invite cub and scout groups also Air Cadets groups for evening experience flights. At least introducing the youngsters to the hobby, hope some take it up.
We also have Maplins using the site for quad tryout sessions. They bring invited customers for a quad tryout. May pick up a member here and there.

Well done done on promoting the hobby to young people, we do the same at our site with scouts, cadets etc. A lot of the posts on here suggest clubs have themselves made it difficult for new members with too many rules etc. We have tried to keep rules to a minimum and they are purely for safety, bearing in mind we share a site with a full size gliding club!
we have plenty of banter, with those flying at Grass Roots and those more interested in scale and everything in between.


Yes you can get advice etc on the web but for me nothing beats flying with a wide group of people who are friends because of a shared interest in model rotary flight!

We are still a new club and we welcome anyone interested in coming along to meet and fly with us (BMFA insurance please) we are even looking at a club hack for newcomers to try out!

[milly0812]

I think we are forgetting that this still is a particularly expensive hobby and we are still recovering from a pretty severe financial downturn that has made jobs end,marriages fail and life for many much harder. I don't buy the sponsorship rubbish, I've never been or want to be sponsored as I fly purely for fun.
If you don't believe we still fly lower than 10ft you obviously didn't watch the 3d cup this weekend and my club is still a brilliant craic

quads and drones have also taken a bit of a chunk of the hobby too

[Dannyyy]

I dont think it is down to the hobby being expensive at all. I really do think the amount of people being "sponsored" by compaines is ridiculous. This was just starting to become a problem as I left the hobby and now the results of that are very clear. There are more people in this hobby wanting a career rather than to have fun...

[waveydavey]

I dont think it is down to the hobby being expensive at all. I really do think the amount of people being "sponsored" by compaines is ridiculous. This was just starting to become a problem as I left the hobby and now the results of that are very clear. There are more people in this hobby wanting a career rather than to have fun...

I'm not sure about that Dan, out of a club of 45 members only a small handful Connor, Alex and Duncan are sponsored/supported. In a minority hobby like this where for retailers every penny spent with them keeps them in business you're bound to get the best pilots assisted with their costs. Take a look at what they do for a bit of discount, travel the country in their own time, host us the majority with answers to questions on the kit they're using etc.. So in short I don't think there's a decline and I wouldn't think it's in any part down to retailers supporting pilots