Flying Field Rules for "Drones" and multirotors

[jaskoller]

My RC flying club recently has been getting requests from people flying that have purchased drones to join and use our flying field. We have two runways and they are used primarily by fixed wing aircraft. For those of you that are members of clubs or use shared RC Flying fields, how do you handle drone traffic? I'm sure we will need to add rules to our club for these to avoid accidents. Most Fixed wings fly in patterns etc. I do have a couple quads and a tricopter myself but I haven't been flying them at the field unless there were no other aircraft out. Any advice?

 

[razor02097]

Do you not have any heli pilots? Treat multi-rotors as a helicopter as their flight characteristics are pretty much the same. Most fields I visit have an area designated the "heli pad" where helicopter pilots can fly, take off and land. There should be some mutual agreement though. It isn't fair banning someone from the main field forever just because they fly with helicopters. If the heli pilots want to fly at your field I feel it is fair to ask them to complete some sort of competency test (like some fields do with planes) make sure they can actually control it. Also if they want to fly in the main field with the planes they should do the same circuits the RC planes are doing.

 

[jaskoller]

Quads present new challenges

Razor, thank you for the reply. We do have heli-pilots (me being one!) But the new "store bought" multi's do have some new challenges. Autonomous flight etc. Return to home capabilities etc. that the current heli's we see just don't have. We certainly do NOT want to ban multi rotors, we are just asking what others have done to prevent accidents at their fields. Items like "return to home" "circuit flight paths" etc can present issues as pilots are not directly piloting the aircraft. Now, if someone has a "dead stick" then the return to home is a great option and I'm assuming they would call at the flight line "dead stick returning to home" so they can notify other pilots that an out of control (pilot control) aircraft is coming in. Those are the questions I have. Do people require all multi's be human piloted at all times? Do people allow autonomous flight? Please don't misunderstand my original post. We love the hobby growing just trying to avoid any issues. Currently we let heli's fly and hover in an area outside the pattern flight area and can also fly pattern with the fixed wing group. We don't want any accidents when possible.

 

[bhursey]

At the club I visited. Yes all multi rotters were manual piloted... If your using GPS or something why the hell join a club LOL.. When I flew my fixed wing with them We just mainly all knew where each other was. Big deal is having a spotter and announcing your intentions. When I called landing the multiroators got out of my way.

 

[jaskoller]

Thanks bhursey. I'd like it to be as easy as you have stated. I have two "store bought" quads, a tri-copter (davids design), a heli and a bunch of fixed wings. My fear is having someone purchase a $40.00 quad from walmart and down a $3000.00 scale fixed wing by doing something we could have put an easy rule in place to avoid. I like flying my multi's a lot and I don't want them banned. I also don't want some kid starting in the hobby to get into an accident and then have a bad taste in his mouth and give up. Just trying to make this safe and enjoyable for everyone. I understand that accidents happen and there is no way to avoid all of them. I also don't want to "rule" the hell out of our field. Hopefully common sense prevails most of the time. Still just curious what others do. Thanks!

 

[TEAJR66]

I feel pretty lucky. The local club has one rule. Be an AMA member to fly there. You can also fly there without joining. But, since joining gets you a key to the gate, you can't go wrong.

We have a small field and on a busy day, it can get crowded. People are good at sharing airspace. In the end, it is an aircraft, so use the same flying etiquettes that are common among most RC Fields.

As for younger pilots with cheaper, store bought, RTF's, bring them in the same way you would bring in any new person.

 

[razor02097]

Razor, thank you for the reply. We do have heli-pilots (me being one!) But the new "store bought" multi's do have some new challenges. Autonomous flight etc. Return to home capabilities etc. that the current heli's we see just don't have. We certainly do NOT want to ban multi rotors, we are just asking what others have done to prevent accidents at their fields. Items like "return to home" "circuit flight paths" etc can present issues as pilots are not directly piloting the aircraft. Now, if someone has a "dead stick" then the return to home is a great option and I'm assuming they would call at the flight line "dead stick returning to home" so they can notify other pilots that an out of control (pilot control) aircraft is coming in. Those are the questions I have. Do people require all multi's be human piloted at all times? Do people allow autonomous flight? Please don't misunderstand my original post. We love the hobby growing just trying to avoid any issues. Currently we let heli's fly and hover in an area outside the pattern flight area and can also fly pattern with the fixed wing group. We don't want any accidents when possible.

Sorry I didn't mean to sound confrontational... I was just voicing an opinion. I think as long as the multi-rotor pilot understands the rules and can control their machine there shouldn't be an issue. You could have a probationary period too. Maybe if there are too many pilots on the line to take turns or something. After a while you see the pilot knows what he/she is doing they can fly with the other models.

If they are the typical DJI type pilots they will likely have a camera on a gimbal... Truely air-air footage is really cool whether on a plane or heli. Could also be used to promote your club if you want to recruit. They could be a great asset.

But yes safety is of great concern. I believe a pilot flying even a toy heli should abide by the same rules as the other heli pilots.

 

[jaskoller]

Return to Home etc

Ha Razor, I didn't take it that way! I didn't think you were confrontational I just wanted to clear up what I was asking. I know some fields have easy rules such as "multirotors must not arm behind flight line" etc to keep return to homes from coming back to pilots line etc. I guess that is the kind of thing I was asking. New guys with new multis might not realize that if they lose signal and the RTH flies their aircraft back it will fly it to where they armed it (and it had a GPS signal). Which could be in the pilot line if armed there. That is just an example.

 

[Noob]

At my club we classify Multirotors as Helicopters. We have a rule in place that Helicopters and fixed wings can not be in the air at the same time. We also have a rule that no aircraft can be plugged in, armed, or started behind the flight line. We are a relatively small club and are really good about sharing flying time. So this has never been an issue for us. See the two rules from our bylaws below.

10. Helicopters should only fly when there are no fixed wing aircraft in the sky and vice versa.

13. No aircraft will be started or energized on the spectator side of the safety fence for any reason.

 

[Cyberdactyl]

I understand your concern jaskoller. The explosion of cheap and accessible multirotors has made all flying fields a challenge now, if they are allowed. My suggestion, if the field is large enough is to segregate multirotors from fixed wing craft. The flying field I use is a first-to-arrive claims that area, which is quickly turning into a mess. The other huge issue now is the 5.8GHz band is now saturated.

 

[makattack]

My club has access to multiple fields of different characteristics. The three I'm most familiar with are:

1) Davis Field - a public park we lease from the town it's in for the season with the understanding that it's a shared/mixed use public space. We have dog walkers, hikers, etc all use that space with us. In the Fall / Spring, there are youth Soccer leagues that use the field and that's the only time we can't fly. When we're there, there's a winch line area, a frequency board, and that's about it. No formal flight line. People walk out into the fields and launch electric or free flight planes where there's space. Those with multi rotors either do the same, or fly over an area next to the winch line if they want to avoid planes landing and taking off. It's sort of an informal setting. You don't have to be a club member to fly there, and many aren't.

2) There's another field in the next town over where we just negotiated with the town to fly out of, as a secondary field whenever there are soccer games at Davis. Same rules, but no winches setup there.

3) Bill Martin Field - this is a AMA field we share with another club (Millis Model Club) with a grass runway, fenced pilot stations / flight line, pit area with setup tables, equipment shed, locked gate, etc... Here, most people fly fuel powered fixed wing and helis. Basically, the same procedures are echoed by others. Helis and multirotors are treated similarly. Pilots announce intention, especially when walking out to the field. The rules are essentially:

* Announce all intentions -- hand launching, walking on field, dead sticks, general landings, low passes, etc.
* Rotary-wing aircraft and 3D aircraft can fly in the same airspace / at the same time with pattern aircraft, but pilots must pay attention to above announcements (e.g. for dead sticks, landings, etc) and must heed way to all dead-sticks and landing aircraft.
* No flying over pits and pilot stations.

 

[jaskoller]

Thanks Noob, Cyberdactyl, and Makattack, these are exactly the suggestions we are looking for. I'd like to say everyone can just come out and fly, but I'm afraid we have to have something in place to avoid a real issue. If nothing else at least have a list of things the multi guys could follow (everyone can follow) to help them avoid a potential issue. Multi's are already getting a poor name in the public and since I personally fly them I'd like to help change, or at least curb that "bad name". Part of the problem is typically, in my experience, you don't just grab a heli, or a fixed wing and throw it in the air with no training or knowing anything about it. You may do that, but then you learn when you rebuild it after that crash! However, alot of these multi's you can do just that. People are getting them for little or nothing, and with no training getting them airborne and actually having some success keeping them airborne due to the excellent flight controllers etc. These people no longer need to talk to some of the veterans of the hobby to get tips and help, they just go! The problem with that is the best information you can get is from the veterans. You can also get the best advice on safe operation. My first heli was the HoneyBee King II. I can tell you right now, there was no way to get that bird in the air safely without learning about it, and working hard to fly. It just isn't the case any longer. I personally want these new pilots to come out, but I want to give them the opportunity to fly successfully, safely and courteously.

 

[AverageGuyRC]

Just for the sake of playing devils advocate and to bring a little humor to the conversation:
To many rules! I find it funny how many of us complain about the "Government," like the FAA, creating all these rules about what we can or can not do with out RC hobby, yet so many of us just accept it when a club dictates the rules. There are three areas that we can cover that would eliminate most of these rules:
Common Sense, Communication and Education.
Common Sense: I realize common sense is not a virtue of a lot of folks. But, for the sake of argument, common sense would eliminate the majority of these rules. As an example, common sense would dictate that if someone is flying an expensive aircraft, you might want to wait to fly your cheap multirotor. But, to have a blanket rule to say multirotor and airplanes can't fly together is ignorant. Practically every Flite Test video has both flying at the same time usually without incident.(I suppose maybe not the best example as they have had some epic crashes, ie Guine Pig and Quad).
Communicate: That brings us to communicate. Again not easy for some. Ask first if it is ok to fly at the same time with other aircraft. If you are flying with other aircraft talk to the other pilots and let them know if you have an issue like needing to use return to home or lost communication.
Education: Finally we have education. When a new pilot shows up give them the common sense test and if they fail gently educate them on flying field etiquette. Multirotor pilots may need to educate the folks that fly at a local field as well. A lot of the fields tend to have a group of folks that have been flying airplanes for a long time and are set in there ways. Be prepared for some resistance. There will always be that grumpy old guy that likes nothing more than to chastise the younger folks. Fly with some common sense and hopefully they will come to appreciate multirotors.

I realize that this is only a pipe dream. Rules in general are important and safety takes priority.

Just remember multirotoring is not a crime!

I wish we could all just get along.

 

[cranialrectosis]

We finally formed our own club at an old airport out east. SCORCH is for heli and multi-rotor geeks. We welcome FPV and foamies too! We are an AMA club in our first year.

That's my mini hex in the banner and I just had my FT Tiny Trainer out (first Immelmann with it today!) for 2 hours and had the skies to myself. We have a 400 ft limit but with 80 acres we can fly about whatever we want.

I was out Saturday with this plane and had two of the 'old timers' trim it out so I could fly it. We added a bunch of expo and cut the rates a bit. While I have flown some fixed wing before, I am a newbie. The club president (also an 'old timer') spent most of his morning with a soldier flying his new plane for his first flight ever.

I think new clubs will be more open like this. I hope so anyway.

 

[jaskoller]

Thanks guys. These suggestions are why I came to Flitetest to ask. I just want a good experience for everyone. Thanks again. Any other suggestions are surely welcome!