OMG I’m so DONE with flying in Parks!

[Sharpedge]

I fly in a massive park (8 football pitches wide by about 4 deep) that backs onto the local rec centre. Why do dog owners gravitate to the centre of the park???? Just as I’m doing my 5 and 20’s I notice a VW Transporter van pulling up, thinking it was just dogs I powered up and started flying. Before I knew it two kids (aprox 4/5yrs) come screaming past me right for the heli which was nose in about 10ft up and10 ft in front of me. I piled on the collective to get out of dodge but the little idiots just started chasing it all over the park I went high and far to see if they would loose interest but they just waited for it to come back. I started walking to the far side of the park as I was running out of time left on the pack. As soon as I got the heli close enough to accurately gauge orientation for landing the kids where off after it again. All my shouting would not stop them. I managed to put it down behind me and put myself between them and the heli as the blades spun down. When the blades stopped I called them over and explained how dangerous the heli is. I looked around for a parent to give them a piece of my mind and they were nowhere to be found! I found “the parent” (if you can call her that) sitting in the van with her back to the field doing her nails with the radio on!!!!!!! Now I’m not a parent but I would not even let my helicopters out of my sight in this neighbourhood

[Rich_H]

Hi,
this post may indeed spark off some debate!
Personally I hate the term 'Park Flyer' that seems to be so readily adopted, it (to me) conjurs up visions of out of control or wildly flown models where owners couldn't care less about the legal aspect or duty of care that they have whilst owning and operating a controlled flying object. The sad thing is this is the perception of a lot of members of the general public.

Lets not kid ourselves here, as I am sure you will be the first to admit the models that we operate can be and often are dangerous, that is why whilst not a legal obligation it certainly is a moral one to have insurance to protect both us and the injured part in the event of an accident.

Now AS a parent I endeavour to make sure that my daughter behaves responsibly when at the flying site and has a respect for the models being operated, as my fellow clubmates will no doubt back up, but as a modeller I am more likely to do this. Members of the general public who have less regard for and certainly less understanding than us would not have the same amount of heathly repect for the models that we operate. so irrispective of how good or bad the parent was this is to a degree understandable that the lady in question let her children chase the model about, and to be fair you can hardly blame a child of 4/5 years of having a lack of understanding about the course of their actions.

I do think however though that the key words in the paragraph above is flying and site. Now i'm probably going to make myself unpopular by saying this but being honest I hate the idea of a modeller of any ability setting up on the local park and flying, to me that is the absolute opposite of what flying models is about. Clubs have to jump through hoops on several different levels to be allowed to operate models on an agreed site, both with the BMFA where stringent safety legislation needs to be adhered to but also with the local council where planning permission needs to be obtained. Those members on here who are in a comittee position within a club will testify to this.

There is also the legal aspect to this, it may be against local bylaws to operate flying models on your local park, this alone a consideration as it may well nullify any kind of insurance cover in the event of an accident where the operator was found to be negligent, besides the no doubt exorbitant cost of an ensuing civil and possibly criminal suit surely it's not worth the moral cost?

Sadly accidents tar all of us involved in this hobby. The loss of flying sites is getting more and more prolific with every passing year, please lets not fuel that particular fire with the bad press of such sad events.

Now before I get flamed here, I am to a certain degree playing devils advocate, however in my heart of hearts I do think that there is a hell of a lot to be said for belonging to a club besides the safety aspect.

please note this is just MY opinion and I apologise in advance if anyone is upset by this response.

Rich

[Flying_Amp]

Sorry but i dont agree. IMO the OP did everything they could to maintain safety, if kids/adults are that stupid and need to be handled with kid gloves god help society! No one seems to want to take responsibility for their own actions nowa days.... These things are marketed as Park Flyers, and yes i agree, it is a misleading heading. But when a pilot has done all he or she can to ensure safety, the blame for me rests with the excellent sounding parent (possibly had a frontal lobotomy at birth)

Just my opinion.

[LipolyGone]

Spot on, flying in public parks should be made ilegal IMHO.
My local council have a bylaw that doesnt permit the flying of RC models
as should all councils. Only takes one fatality in a park & model flying will end up
with so much legislation that half of us wouldn't be able to fly anywhere.

[anyw]

I'm afraid I have to agree with rich h, only he has put it a lot better then I could of, when we fly in a public place we can only expect people and children to come and watch and they really won't have an understanding of the power of these things after all to them they toys. Forget the cost of repairs if you were distracted or had a technical malfunction you could seriously hurt a child , who is just going to the park for a nice afternoon of fun where they should be safe from danger,we accept those dangers and are aware of them when we go to the flying field and we all know the rules to follow and explain them clearly to New members.

[scallybert]

Spot on, flying in public parks should be made ilegal IMHO.
My local council have a bylaw that doesnt permit the flying of RC models
as should all councils. Only takes one fatality in a park & model flying will end up
with so much legislation that half of us wouldn't be able to fly anywhere.

Ok - as long as the council is also obliged to provide adequate flying facilities.

[ShaggyRS6]

Public park is a no go for me. Morally I'd never be able to live with myself if I took away someone's eye sight or finger etc. Not even an option in my opinion.

Kid or adult , experienced or not. I'd never put myself in that situation.

[checkoutmybull****]

Commen sense should prevail here! Flying any R/C helicopter in a public park is asking for trouble. Kids are kids and they're bound to be intrigued by a model heli. Parents should be allowed to let their kids run around in a park without being in danger of getting maimed by a helicopter. It's bad enough having to watch out for pedos without worrying about a helicopter causing kids harm. Okay, so this parent wasn't paying attention, but that's not the point. It's selfish to fly in park, nevermind bad publicity caused by an accident, how would anyone feel if their kid was badly hurt by a helicopter. Stick to flying on private land (with permission) or join a flying club and get BMFA insurance. One fatal accident (or even minor) would make all helicpter pilots suffer with lost flying sites.

[LipolyGone]

Yes agree fully scally they should be made to provide suitable sites but it's all about our perceived image I'm afraid. Bad press points us out to be weirdos who dabble with dangerous contraptions.
No court in the world would think in this instance if two six year olds had been killed that there was no fault of the pilot. He had every opportunity to wait to see what got out the van he assumed it would be dogs well ain't assumption the mother of all fxxx up's? Had he had a freind spotting for him then I could justify it.

[NEON ROTORS]

hm reminds me of a similar time when i was out flying an hobbyzone firebird phantom yes i fly helis and planes now i was just out doing a bit of park flying when a bunch of teenage brats came walking past they started chasing it. i had hobbyzones infamous act or anti crash technology on .for anyone thats not familiar with hobbyzone stuff . i pulled up dead hard like if you were doing a loop the motor shut off and the anti crash technology kicked in now its suppose to level off the aircraft for you however all it dld was make it stall and go into a dive the act overides your control inputs so no matter what i did it would not pull back up and level out. as its coming down all i hear is the teenge brats shouting CRASH IT CRASH IT CRASH IT .................................................. ......................................... next thing CRRRAASHH! which was soon followed by lots of cheering and giggling from the teens .stupid feckin act not so much anti crash technology more like assured crash tehnology .

[r4nd0m]

Spot on, flying in public parks should be made ilegal IMHO.
My local council have a bylaw that doesnt permit the flying of RC models
as should all councils. Only takes one fatality in a park & model flying will end up
with so much legislation that half of us wouldn't be able to fly anywhere.

I disagree, every park should have a public flying site, separated, age 14 and above and probably even with a season license that can be purchased from the council, bmfa required - all covered ...

[AcidDrink]

Parents should be allowed to let their kids run around in a park without being in danger of getting maimed by a helicopter.

Really? Ban the dogs then. The are aggressive, shit everywhere, attack my child (I don't care if a dog wants to "play") and try to rape random people including children. Not to mention they (dogs) usually stink, are full of bacteria and are unpredictable.

How many children have been maimed by a RC helicopter in last 5 years? Have many children have been maimed by a dog?

p.s. I don't fly in public parks except mcpx from time to time and personally I don't think flying in public park is a good idea. My point is that there are bigger "dangers" and annoyances in the parks (which need to be taken care of) than rc helicopters.

[pgkevet]

Really? Ban the dogs then. The are aggressive, shit everywhere, attack my child (I don't care if a dog wants to "play") and try to rape random people including children. Not to mention they (dogs) usually stink, are full of bacteria and are unpredictable.

How many children have been maimed by a RC helicopter in last 5 years? Have many children have been maimed by a dog?

p.s. I don't fly in public parks except mcpx from time to time and personally I don't think flying in public park is a good idea. My point is that there are bigger "dangers" and annoyances in the parks (which need to be taken care of) than rc helicopters.

Ban the kids! They're aggressive, shout, run around, drink alcohol, often stink, full of diseases and totally unpredicatable. How many kids have been maimed by dogs? How many children have been maimed by kids?..

(just making a point)

[mrmurder1975]

Some of us have no choice but to fly in a public space.
Not all of us can find a giant field or join a club.
If we get banned from flying in parks then for me,and for many others i suspect,this hobby will be over. It's all very well people saying join a club or find a private field,but that's not a viable option for all of us.
Going by some peoples logic on here,that should exclude me from being able to enjoy this hobby.

[Sharpedge]

Let’s get some facts straight here, I have BMFA membership and I do fly responsibly. You make it out that I actively seek out people in the park to fly into with my heli. I take every precaution and immediately stop flying if anyone comes too close or looks like they are going to cause trouble. I don’t know of anyone local that can spot for me so this is not an option. I also try not to fly at busy times of the day. If I wait to see who or what gets out of every car then I will never get any flying in.

I desperately want to join a club as I’m sick of flying on my own and I believe my flying will improve in leaps and bounds if I see how others do it. Unfortunately there are no heli clubs within reasonable travelling distance (Bristol) and as I work away from home during the week I think it’s asking too much of my wife to be out for most of Sat or Sun. If I’m wrong and there is a club that is taking on new members then let me know and I will be over at first light next weekend. The link below is a video of the park taken today with my Radian Pro, it should give you a nice view of the park where I used to fly.