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.