Is this hobby in decline?

[Rob Barnes]

I just love flying helicopters and attending events . I went out yesterday with my 450 Pro in the field opposite to where I live and had a great 1/2 hours flying .

Also its the people who make this hobby, I have made some great friends over the last 6 years and met some really nice genuine people !

[Planehazza]

I just love flying helicopters and attending events . I went out yesterday with my 450 Pro in the field opposite to where I live and had a great 1/2 hours flying .

Also its the people who make this hobby, I have made some great friends over the last 6 years and met some really nice genuine people !

Fully agree with this too!

[Mike Sanders]

I wonder whether membership of this forum is any indication of the popularity of the hobby?
When I first signed up there were about 17000 members. Now there are 25588. Need I say more?

[trexamanic]

Why does it need to be a blame game?
I have never given a sponsored pilot a 2nd thought. In the beginning i did because they were always saying this or that is the bees knees and a must buy.
You try to keep up then realise that its just not worth it as then next best thing is around the corner, neo to make the point.
I remember being so in to the hobby then all those models i aspired too were going in and guys were losing over a grand in one go.

This was the turning point for me. i sold of my big kits and i decided that my disposable income was going into something a bit more safe. So i bought an mgb roadster and i love it.
I am still into helicopters an i have a 450 dfc pro align ,130x, 180cfx, and i have just built a kds chase 360 as i love how it looks. i upgraded to the dx9 from the 8 .
My life has been turned upside down following an operation that caused complications so bad i was visited by a minister for the last rights. i obviously survived but i am now left with permanent damage and i have a limited life expectancy. The point i am trying to make is it is a hobby either enjoyed or not and its not life or death if numbers decline as they will always ebb and flow,known as churn. i wont be able to carry anything to a club but i do fly in my back garden. I am still no good at flying but i really do get a buzz from it. i enjoy the tinkering and i won't stop.
We all have really tough times to deal with at some point in our lives and it is good to be able to turn to your hobby for some relax time

Clubs in decline can often be because they are not giving out enough awareness that they are there.

Perhaps if the sponsors supported clubs more than pilots, numbers would increase. Just a thought

[Rob Barnes]

I'm doing exactly that , I'm not entering any more competitions and all I've done this year is fly for fun and that's it. I have 3 helicopters which I love and I'm not looking for the next best thing either.

[Gate88]

I wonder whether membership of this forum is any indication of the popularity of the hobby?
When I first signed up there were about 17000 members. Now there are 25588. Need I say more?

The question is is how many of those 25587 others still regularly use the site, I'd hazard a guess and say there's nowhere near that many people flying in the UK these days.

[DaveG]

It's not a blame game but i do think numerous things have happended over the years, the buzz has most certainly dwindled and i know that the sponsorship game and peoples ego's have caused some to move on from the hobby, and some have moved onto other things like quads and the various things that go with it like aerial photography.

[chrisleematt21]

There must be a fair few people flying & crashing to keep all the model shops in business!!!!

[Gate88]

There must be a fair few people flying & crashing to keep all the model shops in business!!!!

Yea I'm pretty much doing that single handedly!

[chrisleematt21]

Yea I'm pretty much doing that single handedly!

lol I know that feeling.
The other day I worked out how much I have spent since i started two years ago, it was a LOT!

[Sheldrake]

Thought I did that single handedly😉

[debrooker]

3 crashes in two weeks... me too..

[Sheldrake]

Seriously though, personally I think we need an RCHA flyin? The last one in 2013 was excellent, it gave us all a focus and had this forum buzzing for weeks before and after.
Synergy still have the video on the home page of their website too!
i know it takes a lot to organise however it really brought us together as a community.
Pit also generated publicity and awareness of this great hobby with the coverage on children's TV!

[Peteski]

all I've done this year is fly for fun and that's it.

Well that's the only reason I fly If I wasn't having fun I'd just do something else instead.

[Mutley]

I fly planes and helis, i think there's less "club potterers" and more that pick up a discipline and want to go with it. For example in the vicinity (hour radius for example) there's a dedicated F3A club, an F3B club and a control line club. Years ago you would of found all these at one club but i'd like to think that there is now the option to choose. However you try searching for any of them, there's no listing on google or bmfa and its pretty much entirely word of mouth.

I think that while there maybe some clubs still with 50-100 members i think we are seeing more clubs but with less members, and with the advent of electric flight at our club you can fly at anytime so you'll find some up there at 6am before they go to work or 9-10pm but you wont see them at weekends, so rather than being a Sunday morning social flying is now 7 days a week.