Help! Local Community RC Club Build Direction - Norther VA

[AlTone]

Hello everyone, Ive been a very quiet member for some time and love RCs in general. The community I live in used to have an AMA RC club but it has disbanded and Im looking to start up a new one here and have no idea how to start other than getting general club start up info from the community board. I plan to do that in soon. I do also plan to put an add for interest in my community paper once I have more planning done. BTW I'm a 54 year old Christian, content creator, PT 107 certified, and Flite Test Fan. I attached a picture of my most recent build the Flerken.

Please point me to any post or any information that might provide me with some ideas about structure etc. I am an AMA club member as well but prefer to work with FT versus attempting to go the AMA route even though the insurance is something I believe my community would like to have for any RC Arial models so I would most likely incorporate at least something of theirs into the club to cover this. And I do plan to try to stick to mostly sub 249g planes.

I often fly smaller planes and drones at our community soccer field and some of the residents enjoy watching while doing their daily walks around the track there. It's a lake community so inviting some of my AMA club members at times to do flight demonstrations off the water or doing them myself sometime Is something I would really love to do. Even though I do plan do more than just Fixed wing rc aircraft.

My goal would be to one day be able to host Flite Test events here in Norther VA where I live. (with a ton of help from others of interest in the area).
And of course Represent Christ and the love of God in the process.

Thanks for any direction and or assistance.
Alton E Hampton
AKA
AlTone

 

[The Inner Geek]

Possibly a bit off topic, but I just ran into your content on Youtube yesterday. I really enjoyed the Boomin' Flerken flight right up till the tragic end.
More on topic, I'd be excited about your RC Club if I was anywhere close.

 

[AlTone]

Possibly a bit off topic, but I just ran into your content on Youtube yesterday. I really enjoyed the Boomin' Flerken flight right up till the tragic end.
More on topic, I'd be excited about your RC Club if I was anywhere close.

Thanks so much. I really appreciate it. And of Course I would love to have you join in. As I get things together I will be sharing info on it on the channel as well. As for the Flerken I have done some repairs and it should fly again. I just need to figure out what's going on with my motors. Other than that I did order another kit and so I am looking forward to building the next one this build season. We will see how things go with the paint this time as well.
Thanks again!

 

[HVB79]

Creating an AMA chartered club is easy assuming you have 5 AMA members and $85 for the registration fee. All the information you need is here. Note that if you go the AMA route everyone who flies at the club need to be AMA members. "I acknowledge that our AMA Charter Club requires every member who actively participates in modeling operations to be an AMA member. "

I would approach whoever controls the land you want to use, (parks department?) and talk with them first to see what they would require. Some locations want proof of insurance before they allow anyone to do anything while others would not require it.

 

[HVB79]

Read this article about starting a FTCA site:
https://www.flitetest.com/articles/acquiring-an-ftca-flying-site

 

[AlTone]

Read this article about starting a FTCA site:
https://www.flitetest.com/articles/acquiring-an-ftca-flying-site

Thanks so much!

 

[AlTone]

Read this article about starting a FTCA site:
https://www.flitetest.com/articles/acquiring-an-ftca-flying-site

Creating an AMA chartered club is easy assuming you have 5 AMA members and $85 for the registration fee. All the information you need is here. Note that if you go the AMA route everyone who flies at the club need to be AMA members. "I acknowledge that our AMA Charter Club requires every member who actively participates in modeling operations to be an AMA member. "

I would approach whoever controls the land you want to use, (parks department?) and talk with them first to see what they would require. Some locations want proof of insurance before they allow anyone to do anything while others would not require it.

Yes.. the previous club was an AMA club and as much as I appreciate the AMA and I am a member, I would really like to do so with the FTCBO as a foundation. Im going to have to find the people interested so for now im just getting started. Im sure once I organize and find few interested I will be able to move forward. Thanks so much!

 

[Piotrsko]

Might I suggest that doing a bit of research to see if you're still allowed to fly there, and going out and fly there. Be advised running a club is a huge PITA (btdtmo) done for no thanks and lots of criticism.

 

[Merv]

...Please point me to any post or any information that might provide me with some ideas about structure etc...

Your story sounds very similar to mine. When I learned to fly everyone in the club I joined got old & quit or moved away. So I flew alone for about 10 years. Then someone showed up, then another, then another. We now have about 4 guys who fly regularly & another 8 who fly occasionally, but I would not call it a club. We have no dues, no officers, no bylaws, no AMA requirements. We are just a group who enjoy each others company while flying.

At present we fly at local parks & practice fields. Our main flying field is at a state park & has been recognized as a FRIA through FTCA. All of the local parks have welcomed us, some have even promoted us on their website as another "park activity". If one park is busy we go to another. When we fly at another park we try to use RID's but no one really cares if we use them or not.

My advice, just keep flying anyway, anywhere, anytime you can.