RC Airplanes At Our Airport - Thoughts

[Joey4420]

More info the below paragraph is right out of the FAA Advisory: https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_90-66B.pdf

9.2.1 Unmanned Aircraft. Unmanned aircraft, commonly known as drones, do not require permission or authorization to operate in Class G airspace, at a non-towered airport or a part-time-towered airport when the control tower is not operating, nor are they required to maintain radio communications with other aircraft. However, the remote PIC must always yield right-of-way to a manned aircraft and not interfere with manned aircraft operations. A manned aircraft may alter its flightpath or delay its landing or takeoff in order to avoid an unmanned aircraft that may present a potential conflict or otherwise affect the safe outcome of the flight. Because remote PICs have an obligation to yield right-of-way to all other aircraft and avoid interfering in traffic pattern operations, the FAA encourages remote PICs to avoid operating in the vicinity of airports because their aircraft generally do not require airport infrastructure. Since small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) do not operate under part 91, and this AC is intended for part 91 flight operations, additional information regarding unmanned aircraft airport operations operating under 14 CFR part 107 may be found in AC 107-2.

 

[RalphInCA]

It is so refreshing to hear all the comments regarding “let’s share our airport and airspace with the modelers”.

I expected a bunch of grumpy old man “get off my lawn” comments.

 

[skyking3286]

I agree with RalphInCA. YES!.... I flew off an airport when I was learning to fly a C152 and RC. Never a problem. Heard the planes come into the pattern long before I saw them and I was responsible. I'm far more worried about hawks and eagles thermaling around 2000' AGL than I would be about an RC plane that was being responsible. It's not a blanket sort of rule that's needed, it's up to the individual circumstance. Some people are just idiots when it comes to safety, no matter if its RC or full scale. It's all flying. . . keep your eyes on a swivel.

 

[Velocity173]

Sick of these idiot RC guys at my local field. Just a nuisance and accident waiting to happen. Should grow up and fly full scale but they don’t have the balls!

 

[Lachlan]

But it just feels like its only a matter of time and that one Cirrus guy who does 15mile straight in low approaches takes out the R/C plane and himself.

Freakin' Cirrus pilots ruin everything!

 

[CC268]

Nice rig! I've got a 35% SIG Edge 540 I need to put together. Need a motor for it. Probably going to hang a DLE 111 on the nose.

Haha yea too bad that isn’t me. Nice...I’ve got all Extreme Flight and 3DHS planes. Although I don’t fly RC a whole lot anymore.

Gotta get that DA120! DLEs (especially the larger displacement ones) are not a bad value though and they seem to run nicely.

 

[CC268]

Sick of these idiot RC guys at my local field. Just a nuisance and accident waiting to happen. Should grow up and fly full scale but they don’t have the balls!

You mean you don’t like when I fly my RC plane next to your helicopter? I thought you liked it

 

[Velocity173]

You mean you don’t like when I fly my RC plane next to your helicopter? I thought you liked it

I actually almost smacked into a DJ about 500 ft a few years back. Thought it was a bird at first then I could see it hovering clearly just outside our rotor disk. Someone has some good footage that they’re keeping private and I want to see it!

Seriously though, I’m not a fan of the quad “drone” stuff. Bought one a couple years ago and got bored after 3 flights. Didn’t find anything amusing about FPV. Local airport manager I know who flys RC at his field said the same thing. For us, it’s about simulating great military aircraft that have served the country.

 

[Bulldog573]

I’ve seen this in years past at an airport where I trained. The RC guys were very aware and respectful of aircraft ops, and they had enough money tied up in their gear to be very careful. They flew some pretty cool stuff, too.

 

[CC268]

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I actually almost smacked into a DJ about 500 ft a few years back. Thought it was a bird at first then I could see it hovering clearly just outside our rotor disk. Someone has some good footage that they’re keeping private and I want to see it!

Seriously though, I’m not a fan of the quad “drone” stuff. Bought one a couple years ago and got bored after 3 flights. Didn’t find anything amusing about FPV. Local airport manager I know who flys RC at his field said the same thing. For us, it’s about military RC and simulating great aircraft that have served this country well.

Ohh no...don’t tell me your part of the Brotherhood of Circle Flyers a.k.a. scale flyer...

Hahaha I’m kidding I’m kidding...I get a kick out of that video though.

 

[jsstevens]

Sick of these idiot RC guys at my local field. Just a nuisance and accident waiting to happen. Should grow up and fly full scale but they don’t have the money!

FTFY

 

[Sinistar]

It is so refreshing to hear all the comments regarding “let’s share our airport and airspace with the modelers”.

I expected a bunch of grumpy old man “get off my lawn” comments.

I must admit, I didn't know where this thread would really go. But that's why I tried to start it off by stating facts and asking questions about the legal side vs damning them from the get go.

In an earlier post I hinted at inviting them to the local EAA chapter meeting. I just have this hunch it would turn out too adversarial for the RC'ers.

Maybe I should just try and find a working aviation handheld (read: cheap!) which can run on regular batteries and just give it to them. If they are already pilots they'll probably just laugh at me. If not I probably would advise them not to talk and just listen. And anyone else at our airport, preferably less newbie than me, could probably teach key things to listen for - especially RNAV approach announcements where there seems to always be long straight in finals.

Myself, I would probably discourage them from talking on the Unicom, mainly to save batteries. But I have a hunch if a RC flyer says something like "Inbound traffic, our RC plane is over the runway, we'll land now" might not go down quite as everyone expects. Then again a small handheld on the ground doesn't transmit very far and would be great if they needed to talk someone in a plane that is running.

Curious what others think: If the RC'ers are open to having a radio - should they be talking on it too or just monitoring?

 

[skyking3286]

Monitoring is fine and all you need. BTW why would there be RC action over the runway when there are taxiways to take off on and open space to the side of that? Or if it is just a single runway there, using the upwind end of it would be safer. The responsibility is on the RC pilots to land and clear the airspace and runway environment when a plane is approaching. Remember there is no radio traffic flying too. Like I said, you can hear a full scale plane over the sound of the RC plane usually, if you keep you ears tuned to the lower frequency of a airplane engine. I would not encourage any radio traffic from them. It's too hard to see an RC plane on the ground at traffic pattern heights anyway and it's even more distracting for both pilots. No transmitting is safer actually.