Bryonheath
Junior Member
Any one from connecticut or surrounding state looking for some fpv friends.
Connecticut
- Thread starter Bryonheath
- Start date
HilldaFlyer
Well-known member
FPV in Central MA
I'm a member of AMA sanctioned QMFC in Central MA. We have a couple of guys doing FPV, me being the newest to the experience. We have a couple of fields in Holden MA and Lancaster MA.
I'm a member of AMA sanctioned QMFC in Central MA. We have a couple of guys doing FPV, me being the newest to the experience. We have a couple of fields in Holden MA and Lancaster MA.
I'm about four months into the hobby of RC flight, but have thousands of hours of flight simulator hours logged.
Also, between 2011 and 2012 I logged 43.9 hours and 129 landings worth of private pilot's license training in a Cessna 172p & 172r, but had to temporarily give up my PPL pursuit when I had to focus on starting my current ventures. Also, in addition to my left hand seat time I must have some wheres around 100 hours of right hand seat time with my dad (who has his PPL) in rented Cessna 152s & Piper Warriors.
Getting used to flying from the ground is still a little funky at times, but I'm definitely really really into FPV flight. I've got the bundled packages for the FatShark Attitude v2 (480p resolution) with pan/tilt mount, as well as the FatShark Teleporter v4 (240p resolution) which seem to be really cool, but I wish there were more affordable headsets that can do HD that I'd like to use with my GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition (capable of up to 4K resolution) but obviously FPV is still kinda new and I'm sure in coming years prices will fall on HD goggles...
Currently my personal air force consists of a Blade 350QX (upgraded to firmware v2.0), a Blade 350QX2, and an E-Flite Apprentice S 15e with the additional floats. I've also got about a dozen Guillow's Balsa Wood kits that I'm playing around with to try and convert to electric, but that's definitely a very slow and difficult work in progress to say the least...
I live in Southington, right next door to you in Bristol. I have recently joined up as an AMA member and was thinking of hooking up with the group over in Farmington, however its a semi-annoying drive for me to get there with lots of annoying back-roads traffic and I've found some decent alternatives closer by to me.
In the last week I've found that the Old Southington Drive-In Theater is a pretty chill place to go fly around in. I've gone there twice and on the second time I went there was another person there flying an RC plane.
Earlier today I went into Bristol and checked out the Lake Compounce Amusement Park's parking lot which is even closer from my house and I think I'm going to frequent there as its very wide open. Only problem is that I'd only want to go there in the months when the park is closed because I'm sure it would be a less than ideal and not so safe place to do fly RC around in the summertime with 5,000 people wandering around :\
I didn't get to actually fly there today because 25 MPH winds gusting up to 40+ MPH obviously wouldn't be the best conditions to fly in, but I can tell it's a pretty secluded area, and this would most likely be the only area of Bristol that I can think of to fly in that is a good enough distance from Robertson Airport in Plainville (4 Miles according to Google Maps).
As for when Lake Compounce is in business during the summer I fortunately have a place to go as my dad lives on a small private lake in Wolcott that has very minimal boat traffic. So come summertime the Apprentice on floats can be put to work, and who knows maybe even one of these balsa model kits, that is if I ever get around to finishing any of them!
If your interested in seeing the FPV goggles let me know, my work hours are simply whenever I wanna work so as long as my sleep schedule isn't set to some crazy time zone I'm usually around...
Also, between 2011 and 2012 I logged 43.9 hours and 129 landings worth of private pilot's license training in a Cessna 172p & 172r, but had to temporarily give up my PPL pursuit when I had to focus on starting my current ventures. Also, in addition to my left hand seat time I must have some wheres around 100 hours of right hand seat time with my dad (who has his PPL) in rented Cessna 152s & Piper Warriors.
Getting used to flying from the ground is still a little funky at times, but I'm definitely really really into FPV flight. I've got the bundled packages for the FatShark Attitude v2 (480p resolution) with pan/tilt mount, as well as the FatShark Teleporter v4 (240p resolution) which seem to be really cool, but I wish there were more affordable headsets that can do HD that I'd like to use with my GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition (capable of up to 4K resolution) but obviously FPV is still kinda new and I'm sure in coming years prices will fall on HD goggles...
Currently my personal air force consists of a Blade 350QX (upgraded to firmware v2.0), a Blade 350QX2, and an E-Flite Apprentice S 15e with the additional floats. I've also got about a dozen Guillow's Balsa Wood kits that I'm playing around with to try and convert to electric, but that's definitely a very slow and difficult work in progress to say the least...
I live in Southington, right next door to you in Bristol. I have recently joined up as an AMA member and was thinking of hooking up with the group over in Farmington, however its a semi-annoying drive for me to get there with lots of annoying back-roads traffic and I've found some decent alternatives closer by to me.
In the last week I've found that the Old Southington Drive-In Theater is a pretty chill place to go fly around in. I've gone there twice and on the second time I went there was another person there flying an RC plane.
Earlier today I went into Bristol and checked out the Lake Compounce Amusement Park's parking lot which is even closer from my house and I think I'm going to frequent there as its very wide open. Only problem is that I'd only want to go there in the months when the park is closed because I'm sure it would be a less than ideal and not so safe place to do fly RC around in the summertime with 5,000 people wandering around :\
I didn't get to actually fly there today because 25 MPH winds gusting up to 40+ MPH obviously wouldn't be the best conditions to fly in, but I can tell it's a pretty secluded area, and this would most likely be the only area of Bristol that I can think of to fly in that is a good enough distance from Robertson Airport in Plainville (4 Miles according to Google Maps).
As for when Lake Compounce is in business during the summer I fortunately have a place to go as my dad lives on a small private lake in Wolcott that has very minimal boat traffic. So come summertime the Apprentice on floats can be put to work, and who knows maybe even one of these balsa model kits, that is if I ever get around to finishing any of them!
If your interested in seeing the FPV goggles let me know, my work hours are simply whenever I wanna work so as long as my sleep schedule isn't set to some crazy time zone I'm usually around...
I'm looking for any flitetest people near South Windsor, send me a pm
PeterGregory
CrossThread Industries
I am from Poughkeepsie NY but there seems to be quite a bit of interest in western CT which is actually more accessible than any other group of FT flyers, so far. Anyone with interest and/or updates, I would be glad to hear about it. SpecialEd - great find with a drive-in theatre - that was on my list to check out around where I live, several nearby.
Yeah, the drive-in theater is pretty decent, as long as its not Saturday night as the town shows kids movies then.
Its big enough for me to fly quads and any of my UMX planes, and just enough for my e-flite apprentice. But it'd probably be a little too small for anything larger or faster (like EDF jets).
The bonus is that there isn't too many audience members, something which I really hate having when I'm trying to fly. There is almost nothing is more annoying to me than having random people walk over to ask you a million questions about what you're doing when you've got your FPV goggles on and a fragile balsa plane in the air.
REMOTE-CONTROL-KID
Junior Member
GREAT RC CLUB
If Any one is looking for a great club in Thomaston, CT You might try Nutmeg RC Flyers
If Any one is looking for a great club in Thomaston, CT You might try Nutmeg RC Flyers
I was considering joining this club because of its location between my home & my favorite hobby store, RC Hobbies & More in Winsted, CT (they have the best aerial R/C selection I've ever seen by far, even all the latest FPV gear).
I drove by the club one evening, climbed over the gate on the access road and walked around the field area to check it out. It's basically a single grass strip with a beautiful backdrop of the Thomaston Dam. If I remember correctly they also have a restriction for flying after dusk due to its location in a State Park that closes at dusk.
Based on the location of the club alone I was definitely interested in joining after I checked it out, however when I looked at the Nutmet RC Flyers website I noticed that their membership has dropped off significantly in the last 5 years (from 60 members down to 17 or so).
I don't know why the number of members has dramatically diminished and I don't want to speculate about any problems with the club. To me, this is a massive red flag that there is some sort of a problem with the club so I passed on this club and I looked at a couple of other clubs, East Coast Swamp Flyers in Northford, CT & Wintonbury Flying Club in Bloomfield, CT.
According to the AMA Charter Club Search, this club is the largest in Connecticut at 232 members. So, on July 20th I drove by to check out the field that East Coast Swamp Flyers is based out of and found that its a basic single grass strip.
I spoke for 20 minutes or so with a member who was very friendly and gave me the impression that I'd be a great fit with the club, so I sent the president of East Coast Swamp Flyers an email that I found on their website. One problem the member told me is that weekends can be busy and it can take a very very long time to wait for your turn to fly, which is kinda a bummer.
I didn't get a reply for three weeks (according to him, he never checks that email anymore...). By the time he finally responded back to me I found a better club so I'm happy that it took him forever to respond to me. In the response I was told I would have to be voted in at their next membership meeting, then I would have to have a check ride (buddy box) by a flight trainer to show I can maintain control of my aircraft, and then eventually I'd get a membership ID badge (the kid I spoke to at the field had been a member for months and still hadn't received his yet)
The club I joined, and I'm very happy that I did join was the Wintonbury Flying Club in Bloomfield, CT. It is one of only three AMA clubs in Connecticut with a paved runway (others being in Ellington and Westport). After checking the field out initially I sent their treasurer an email inquiring about joining, and a week later I showed up at their monthly meeting with a check and membership application in hand and immediately was handed my membership badge with my name on it (that was quick!).
The flying area is roughly over a square mile in size, all of which is grass. They intentionally allow the grass to grow a couple feet tall so that if you need have an emergency and need to ditch a plane you can with a nice soft crash-pad of grass. In total, they have the 200' paved runway with grass landing option on either side of pavement, a second grass runway that runs perpendicular to the main runway, and a third area for helicopters and multi rotors.
The Wintonbury Flying Club is not the biggest, nor is it the smallest club in CT, but they seem to be a healthy club. They seem to make that good blend between reasonable rules for safety while at the same time not being too aggressive with rules that make being a member stressful.
Members in the club come from a variety of different walks of life and interests. Being that its got a nice paved runway I can fly all of my dozen or so UMX planes, my average sized E-flite Apprentice S 15E, my FlyZone DHC-2 Beaver, or even my various quadcopters. I've never had to wait
Already I've made several friends at the field. One guy is a programmer type (like me), another guy is big into FPV drones (like me), and even the Steve, the RC Manager of Time Machine Hobby (my second favorite hobby store) who went out of his way to help me with various D/R and Expo rates on my DX9 at the field on his day off.
There are also a couple other guys like to fly at night (now that I have a FlyZone beaver I like flying at night too), and I've also met a 3D Pilot that made my jaw drop, Dean Lampron of Hatfield MA, a couple videos of his insane 3D skill can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Dean+Lampron+3D+Wintonbury
There are lots of activities going on at the club, from pylon racing, to large scale aircraft, to simulated search and rescue with FPV drones, and pretty much every other kinda event seen in this hobby. I'm very happy I joined this club.
South Windsor is right next door to my new club I joined, The Wintonbury Flying Club in Bloomfield, CT. As long as the weather is nice you can usually find me there
Crash and Burn RC
Geeterduuun
There is an amazing club called the "Salem RC Propbusters". We host events about 5 times a year and are in Salem, CT. Apart from that, me and one of my friends who fly are near the mouth of the CT river.
GM_Skidjit
Junior Member
I can vouch for this club. I was a member from around 2003 to 2006. Really good crowd back when I was a member.
Waveny Park club in New Canaan, CT
I just joined the New Canaan RC Society (ncrcs.org), we fly in Waveny Park which is huge, wide open, a completely different and drastically better experience than flying in random parks. Twenty bucks a year, have to be a member of the AMA and have the FAA thing.
I just joined the New Canaan RC Society (ncrcs.org), we fly in Waveny Park which is huge, wide open, a completely different and drastically better experience than flying in random parks. Twenty bucks a year, have to be a member of the AMA and have the FAA thing.
I fly at Southington Drive In (because they are supposed to start inforceing the No Flying rule at Haddam Meadows) the Drive in is best for East and West winds if your flying Planes- The Large Football complex above is great for North-South winds during the week when no one is playing on the field and there are picnic tables near the Refreshment building to set up.
I checked out Durham Black sheep squadron and they fly at the fair grounds $40 a year and AMA- They Only have One summer meeting and is a very do your own thing club. No Regs Or training requirements like some do.
I'm tempted to join CCRC in Farmington- $80 and Flying test required -Beautiful field off Meadow Rd. But sun position is NOT great in the afternoons which is the only time I fly. Haddam meadows is the Best near the Silo parking lot as the sun is at your back in the afternoon and although the Ranger told me 3 or 4 times in the Fall they have to start enforcing the NO Fly in State Parks Rule? He says pretend I didn't stop when he leaves?
Until its posted they can't really fine you the $35 infraction- The dog leash and stuff are posted but nothing posted yet on Plane/Drone NO flying.
But the Drive in is 3 miles for me and early to mid afternoon is usually empty (I'm Retired?)
I checked out Durham Black sheep squadron and they fly at the fair grounds $40 a year and AMA- They Only have One summer meeting and is a very do your own thing club. No Regs Or training requirements like some do.
I'm tempted to join CCRC in Farmington- $80 and Flying test required -Beautiful field off Meadow Rd. But sun position is NOT great in the afternoons which is the only time I fly. Haddam meadows is the Best near the Silo parking lot as the sun is at your back in the afternoon and although the Ranger told me 3 or 4 times in the Fall they have to start enforcing the NO Fly in State Parks Rule? He says pretend I didn't stop when he leaves?
Until its posted they can't really fine you the $35 infraction- The dog leash and stuff are posted but nothing posted yet on Plane/Drone NO flying.
But the Drive in is 3 miles for me and early to mid afternoon is usually empty (I'm Retired?)
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