Flying at college

[heliguy87]

Anyone fly at their local college? I.E. soccer/football fields?

I figure if I -ask- I would be told no since they know nothing of the hobby, but if I am out there being responsible/safe I don't think I will be bothered.

anyone have any experiences with this?

[AaronS]

when I lived in Portland I used to fly with the Janitor for a local community college. In the winter we would fly indoors in some of the common areas, and in the Summer we would fly on the sports fields. We never had a problem as long as we worked around everybody and never caused a problem. Never fly over people or let the model come in between you and people. Also, always fly with a spotter who can warn you if there is someone who might cross the field in front of you.

[DJB2.0]

I've flown at a college.
Rather than asking, I just went ahead and did it. No one said anything.
Both in the soccer fields, and the parking lot (on weekends when no one was there.

Soccer fields are great, I'll take 'em wherever I can get them. I won't fly if there are people, but you will ALWAYS draw spectators. I guarantee it.
Most people have enough common sense to keep clear.

[GMONEY]

I have done most of the above. Soccer fields, baseball fields, schools, farms you name it I will give it a whirl.. One warning DO NOT hit the tennis courts in Upland CA after 2:00 a.m. I fired up my R30 awhile back and wouldnt you know it the local plice came by. When he came up behind me I freaked and hit the net.. End of flight. COp felt bad just warned me. I went back a couple weeks later about the same time and wouldnt you know it the same cop drops by with a big smile and I get a ticket for trespassing.. Lesson learned fly in the daytime on the tennis courts..

G

[heli-cuzz]

Never a college but a bunch of high school and middle school fields.

Soccer fields are great, I'll take 'em wherever I can get them. I won't fly if there are people, but you will ALWAYS draw spectators. I guarantee it.

I agree :D

[TPCrowell]

When the local college built tennis courts on our flying field, we moved to the soccer fields. Within a month, they resodded, added fences, and closed the soccer fields to all activities but soccer. By a chance of luck, our group was offered the use of a big (200 acre) field out on the river. Now we have a real flying field.

A question came up about flying heli's on a soccer field: does the exhaust harm the grass? I am the only person in our flying group that flies a heli, and only one other person flies nitro. I would usually take off and land on the parking lot, but I did spend a great deal of time hovering around, five to ten feet above the grass, with a nice thick stream of exhaust coming out of my muffler.

Does anyone have an environmental impact statement on nitro heli's? (Hey guys, there could be a magazine article here.)

[mattyusk2002]

Well I used to drive my Traxxas Revo (nitro monster truck) in the grass ALL THE TIME!!!! This would seem to be much worse than a heli (not neccessarly more exhaust gas, but the truck puts the gases directly to the ground all the time in a directed area (most car nitro is only 10% to 20%), I always ran it rich, and if you walked right over where I had just driven you would push exhaust gases up out of the grass! lol. It was awesome! You'd look at the grass and think nothing of it, then start walking around and all this smoke would rise. lol. I think the only time I harmed the grass was when I spilled nitro. The exhaust didn't seem to do anything to it. Even the little dribbles of oil and unburned nitro that come out of the pipe from running it rich didn't seem to do anything either. It would be interesting to see if it's doing any damage deep down. I can't image it's good for the grass.

[tdswan]

I fly at a local tech school in town here quite a bit. Technically the soccer fields that I fly on are public, but I park & pit in the tech school's parking lot. The security guys from the school will stop and watch and there's been no problems at all as long as there's no soccer games going on, hehe :p I've never noticed any dead spots where I've landed there, at home (test flights in the grass) OR at the field from my heli. I have however, seen dead spots from another fuel type from another heli at the field.

[WiscHeli]

the closest R/C feild to me is 30 miles away. I fly my heli in my yard . but i have flown my planes at a local grade school in summer. and on the lakes in winter. the school is all alone woods on 3 sides and a one big feild had some teaches and others watch but in summer no kids they didnt mind at all. helps living in a small town every one knows you :D

[Rappy1]

i also fly at the park at times. they are a great place to fly helis. i took my plane down there and that was a different story, you find you are flying out over the city as the park becomes to small when your planes going fast. At least the heli you and have a good play and there still enough room

[blax1]

Me, I'm a park flyer as well :) Gotta watch big tall gum trees that surround the place :eek:
One of these days I'll get to my club :o

[R50]

Yeah I used to fly at a local soccer field/school yard till one day something can running up behind me. I wasn't sure what it was so I quickly glanced and a little 3 or 4 year old boy was there, never said a word to me till right behind me. (This was about 10 am on a sunday). At the fraction of a second I was distacted my mini titan was heading to the ground beyond recovery. Just another lesson I learned, never fly in a area your not too sure about without a spotter around.