RC Flying

teflon6string · Aug 12, 2014

Had to chuckle…

I meet my buddy at a nearby field to fly RC planes whenever the wind is calm. He showed up a few minutes late yesterday and saw the white 30" powered glider lazing around a couple hundred feet above me. My trusty red Carbon Cub was sitting at my feet.

Perpetually amused and a little annoyed with my single-guy philosophy (he who dies with all the toys wins), he asked "So, what the hell is this now?"

"My new glider, you like it? I can get it way up there, let it float, switch channels and launch the Cub too. That's 20 years of air traffic control experience right there… multi-tasking at its finest. Watch this!"

Zoom! Off goes the little red Cub! Loops, aileron rolls, flat-hat fly-bys, etc. Glider slowly circling above on a thermal. "I'm just glad they're different colors."

Rarely at a loss for commentary, he stood and watched silently. After about 5 minutes he finally said, "Okay, I'm impressed. How the #@$% do you do that?"

I said, "See that couple sitting 100 yards up the hill over there? I can't really tell from here, but I suspect that's a radio in his lap."

RicInOR · Aug 12, 2014

What is the essential differences between an RC - which I associate with the hobby -
UAV, Drones and the like?

rick benjamin · Aug 12, 2014

Political Correctness

teflon6string · Aug 12, 2014

Interesting question Ric.

I've seen military RC surveillance aircraft launched and recovered on Navy warships. In that light, it woudn't occur to me to classify my own 3-4 ounce park flyers as "drones."

But, sadly, I expect that someone with little/no experience or perspective will be appointed to invent laws specifying which is which. And then impose expensive red-tape restrictions on the hobby. Maybe Obama's guffawing jester Joe Bidet can manage that project? "Buy a shotgun!"

Familiar theme? You bet.

teflon6string · Aug 12, 2014

But back to the joy of flying...

There are very few things I can think of (with my clothes on) that can erase day-to-day mental turmoil (work stuff, bills, conflict, aches and pains, etc.) for a few minutes like performing my own private airshow.

It doesn't get much more zen than "survive... survive... survive..."

Modeler · Aug 12, 2014

RicInOR said:
What is the essential differences between an RC - which I associate with the hobby -
UAV, Drones and the like?

Per the FAA, hobby/recreation vs. business purposes and visual line of sight.

<broken link removed>

teflon6string · Aug 12, 2014

Good link there Modeler. Thanks. I hope that definition and the current regulations can remain more or less intact.

As rotor & fixed wing platforms for digital cameras and such proliferate at relatively great prices, I hear acquaintances (who can't tell a Cessna from a Chevy Caprice) making innocent comments like, "Looks like fun! I should buy one of those 'drones' to fly with the kids."

It just gives me a little uneasy deja vu when I think of the similarly blurry boundaries (if any) that some of those same people imagine between "guns" and "assault rifles."