NW Florida, north of Niceville. The Eglin Aero Modellers.

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
I've been in the habit of being lazy and flying at "rogue" locations. Ball fields, schools, empty (mostly) parking lots. I finally broke down and renewed my membership with one of the area clubs. As clubs go, it's not too bad. The main runway once carried the load of WWII bombers as pilots trained in preparation to be sent over seas. Now a small section has been resurfaced to handle lighter loads.

The field is operated in two phases daily. There's a pilot area on both the east and west side of the runway. As the sun makes it's way across the sky, the flight area shifts to prevent having to look for your plane while being blinded.

There is also a grassy area for park flyers and gliders. A high start is available to those who might need one. Once a month they hold a glider social, which any member can take part in.

There's a rather good group of guys there, of all ages, flying a wide assortment of aircraft.

It helps that the wife's new job is just down the road. On days that she's working, and that I have off, I can drop her off, and spend the day at the field. It's a good situation for both of us.

The only draw back to this field, is that it's on military base land. The only people allowed on the field, are club members, or their guests. So it's not readily available for people to just stop by and check it out. If you're interested in visiting the field, make contact with one of the club officers, and they'll arrange to have someone show you around.

IMAG0569.jpg IMAG0570.jpg IMAG0571.jpg
 

bbmagic

Junior Member
Hey Flying Monkey, I used to go out and visit a bit out there and watch the planes. They have a few really good 3D helicopter pilots also. Like you said the runway used to be used for bomber practice and these shots show the scale of the RC runway vs the real thing!

This is a close up in Google Maps showing the RC runway. photo 1.jpg

And then a zoom out to show the whole runway that the bombers used to use....
photo 2.jpg

That little strip at the bottom of this shot is the RC repaved runway.

Perhaps I'll meet you out there some day. I'm running out of fields to fly my tricopter and I'm just getting into FPV and need more room. I might have to join the club.
 

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
I hate to admit it, but I probably haven't been back there too many times since that post was made.
 

bbmagic

Junior Member
Nope, not in a long time. I used to come out in the weekend mornings and someone would let me in to spectate. I never have flown there. I heard they don't allow any FPV so I lost interest and never persued membership. It would be more important to me if I flew planes but for now the tri is all I fly.
 

bbmagic

Junior Member
Just about in the middle of Niceville. I haven't been flying much recently. Come to think of it I don't really know why! Perhaps when the weather calms I'll start up again.
 

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
Well, I'm working on something, that might just have to get both of us back out flying soon...

11768_10200655057752649_1238160327_n.jpg

303057_10200656060417715_2045577094_n.jpg

262478_10200656061617745_1044133984_n.jpg

390657_10200656056617620_663649424_n.jpg