Flying Indoors at United Sports Training Center, Downingtown, PA (USTC)

[bdelmo]

Indoor Flying Opportunity - Revised Dates

We need your help to quickly identify AMA members interested in flying R/C models indoors at United Sports Training Center, Downingtown, PA (USTC) this Winter and beyond in 2008.

Bryan Del Monte, along with Joe Paterson at Sky Blue Hobbies and Bill Short (VFSS club member), recently toured the USTC facility and demonstrated flying an electric helicopter and electric profile plane in the Field house. We found the USTC field to have great potential for flying radio control models indoors. The weight limitation is expected to be 32 ounce maximum for electric helicopters and electric planes. This site works best for mini-helicopters to 450 size (like Align T-Rex 450) and foamy/balsa profile planes to 480 motor size, such as 3D park flyers, scale park flyers or other models requiring up to 250 W power.

Select dates when USTC is available in next two months follow:
Free Fly Promotion – Saturday Feb. 23rd 12 noon – 4 pm
Open Fly - Friday's in March 7, 14, 21, 28- 12 noon – 4 pm
Special Event - Saturday, March 22 8 am-4 pm and 7 pm to closing

Yes, there is no cost for promotion on Feb. 23rd! We still need a commitment from at least 20 AMA members to attend at least 5 Open Fly dates. This will ensure that costs are approximately $10 per person for each event. Joe Paterson will communicate this information to other local clubs chartered under the Academy of Model Aeronautics to solicit interest. Joe is also pursuing a Special Event that may include sponsorship of radio control retailers, distributors and manufacturers.

If you are interested, please identify dates that you will commit by Email to Bryan at indoorfly@VFSS.org.
Web site for USTC with directions - http://www.go2ustc.com/.

[Caleb Phillips]

Geez, those fields are big enough to fly a 90 in!

[JEEPWORLD2002]

I would love to & its 30-45 min away for me. Buty i have a trex 500 and a logo 500 so 32 oz max ??? Thats less then 2 lbs my packs weigh more then this I mean it should be more a blade size restriction vs weight :( A trex 500 is 10cm longer blades and the logo 500 has 550 blades same as a typical 30 size nitro. SO please confirm this weight and tell me if i can join :)

[bdelmo]

I empathize with you, as I have a Century Swift 550 size heli. However, we will have visitors in controlled area and cannot risk a heli that large going into a crowd indoors. Thus, I must confirm the weight limit to get this going safely is approximately 2 lbs for both planes and heli, which I recognize eliminates the 500+ e-heli's.

[bdelmo]

I have sent out this e-mail requesting $50 for those who replied as interested in the Open Fly (Not Special Event) dates at the field house in United Sports Training Center, Downingtown, PA. There will be no refunds of $50 checks if you cannot attend an Open Fly date(s). This means that if you sign up for Open Fly’s and then you have a major plane crash in the first session or bust up your helicopter; you will not be able to drop out because you have nothing else to fly. Please mail your check for $50 made out to United Sports Training Center after contacting Bryan Del Monte at e-mail of indoorfly@VFSS.org to obtain mailing address.

We need to receive 20 payments of $50 early next week (target February 18th) for attending the 5 Open Fly dates to make this happen at USTC. You will need to pay for everything in advance to guarantee keeping these 5 Open Fly dates at a very low package price from USTC. The Special Event earlier on March 22nd will have a separate cost from the Open Fly to be determined by Joe Paterson. Feb. 16 is no longer available at USTC and other earlier dates did not work out for event planners here.

Listed below are five selected dates underlined for Open Flying when USTC is available in next two months (see recent revisions sent to AMA clubs and posted at R/C web forums (RCU, etc.)).
• Free Fly Promotion! – 12 noon – 4 pm on Saturday Feb. 23
• Open Fly - 12 noon – 4 pm on Friday's on March 7, 14, 21, 28
• Special Event - 8 am - 4 pm on Saturday, March 22 – pending confirmation
• Open Fly 7 pm to 11 pm on Saturday, March 22

I expect that you can empathize with this plan on collecting $50 with no refunds to avoid anxiety for all involved here, in particular Joe and me. Given that I spend $50 to fill up the gas tank of my small SUV, I do not expect problems getting the money up front. Another comparison is $40 plus shipping that I just paid for two micro servos.

I am confident that all will agree that $50 for Open Fly sessions of 20 hours of indoor flying, plus Free Fly (4 hours more) is a great deal!

Bryan Del Monte
AMA 843830

P.S. Attendees must be an AMA member (regular or Park Flyer) to provide liability insurance coverage. Thus, you must bring a 2008 AMA card with you to fly. The weight limitation is approximately 32 ounce maximum for electric helicopters and electric planes. This site works best for mini-helicopters to 450 size (like Align T-Rex 450) and foamy/balsa profile planes to 480 motor size, such as 3D park flyers, scale park flyers or other models requiring up to 250 W power. We will follow the AMA guidelines for Indoor Flying (flight area, flight line, frequency control, etc.) in file attachment.

Web site with directions to USTC is http://www.go2ustc.com/.

[bdelmo]

First two checks arrived today, only 17 more to go - please contact me at indoorfly@VFSS.org to obtain mailing address.

The cost proposed for the evening indoor flying event at Toledo Show is $10 for 3 hours in much smaller space than USTC fieldhouse (see Pic).

Yes, this is an outstanding offer - let's see some checks sent by the approximately 59 hits received here.

[LTCOBRA1]

It's good to see that United Sports has opened the door for indoor flying. I tried to get something approved last year but never got far with it so Congrats! gents.

[bdelmo]

I forgot about Monday being a holiday, so Tuesday is the cut-off day. We need 14 checks more to be received then or else...

Thinking positively!

[bdelmo]

Update Wednesday, Feb. 20th - I have cancelled the Indoor Open Fly Dates at United Sports Training Center, Downingtown, PA due to receiving only four checks in the mail when 20 were needed.

No plans have been announced for the Special Event on March 22, which will be separately determined whether to proceed further there, given poor response to Open Fly sessions.

Thank you for your interest here.

Bryan