So, a week or so ago I went to try out a beautiful large park in the adjacent township (Liberty, north of Columbus OH). It was early morning, there was no one around, and it was very calm with a heavy frost that made the flying an amazingly relaxing experience....until...
A guy comes riding up on a cart and nicely tells me that I'm not allowed to fly there. He was a nice guy just enforcing the rules so I wasn't a jerk to him. He actually was real interested in my plane (mini ultra stick) and we talked for quite a while. It turns out that a few years ago someone got hit with an RC plane and the knees jerked at the township hall so they are now banned.

Oh well, I live in Orange township anyway and have been flying in those parks since I started last May, so no big deal, right?
Wrong.
Went out to fly this morning at my "usual" local park. (not so nice, windy and cold!). A guy pulled up in a township pickup truck. Again, he nicely said that he didn't think I was allowed to fly there. Again, he thought my plane was really cool. He wasn't totally sure, though, and suggested I talk to the main office. I just sent them a long e-mail, but I also found the "park rules" online.

• No person shall fly remote control airplanes, shoot rockets or fireworks within park limits. Remote control cars are prohibited in parks.

OK, I never fly when anyone is around. I never fly anything other than "park flyers". This rule seems like a knee-jerk over reaction to me from people who aren't familiar with this class of plane.

Anyone else run in to this sort of thing? Has anyone been able to get the rules changed? I pay taxes in my township for the parks, there's no reason I shouldn't be allowed to use them as long as I'm not endangering anyone!

Sigh...For now I can still fly at the local schools...until someone decides they don't want me there. I refuse to pay to be a part of the local "club" just so I can fly my little park flyers. I might be willing to join the AMA as long as they would lobby for the right to fly in these little parks!

Here in Orange County, it is illegal to fly in any public place. This includes parks, schoolyards, soccer fields, baseball fields, etc.

I contacted the local police and was told that as long as there wasn't a complaint that no police officer would site me if he saw me flying.

Some places it’s illegal to possess an r/c mode on public land.

Will

Sec. 2-5-42. Radio-controlled models.
No person shall possess or operate any radio-controlled or other remotely operated model, toy or similar device, including but not limited to cars, boats, rockets, airplanes or gliders, in any park, beach or recreational area except in areas designated and under conditions established by the Director. Any person convicted of violating this subsection shall be guilty of an infraction.
(Ord. No. 99-21, § 2, 8-31-99)

Chapter 12.08 PARK AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
12.08.060 Games and activities.

(a) No person shall engage in the playing of any activity which endangers the health, safety or welfare of the participant or any other person. The following activities are specifically prohibited:

(1) Transporting, possessing or discharging any firearm, air gun, BB gun, slingshot, bow and arrow, crossbow, spear, fireworks, firecracker, rocket or explosives of any kind;

(2) Lighting or maintaining any fire unless such fire is lighted and maintained in a stove, barbecue grill, or similar device;

(3) Erecting or maintaining any barrier, string, wire, rope, or chain or other device of obstruction across any path, trail or area where the public may be expected to make contact with such obstruction.

(b) No person shall engage in any of the following activities unless a permit is obtained beforehand from the recreation manager:

(1) Golfing, boxing, wrestling or the martial arts;

(2) The flying of model airplanes, helicopters, rockets or any other self-propelled craft or the launching of any hot air or gas balloon.

(c) No person shall engage in the following activities except in areas clearly designated for such use:

(1) Baseball, football, field hockey, rugby, cricket or soccer. (Ord. 930 § 1 (part), 1982)

this is why i am glad i recently moved to oklahoma and could afford to have enough land on which to fly. not to rub it in, but it's great to walk outside and have your own flying field.

i saw these trends developing when I was in west lafayette, indiana and also in college station texas. land is really getting scarce in the US.

Will,

I am responding at the request of the Chief of Police. We do in fact have a FV Municipal code that prohibits the flying of radio controlled planes in any park or recreation center. The municipal code section is: 12.08.60 (2). It basically says you need written permission from the director of the recreation center. You can view it via the Cities web site under municipal codes. In looking at your model it appears to be electric, which do not make a whole bunch of noise. We seldom if ever get reports or complaints on this type of plane. Although the code exists, we would not actively look for violators unless a complaint is received. As for the school grounds you would need to get permission from the school prior to flying. Feel free to contact me if you require more information

Captain Childe
Patrol Division Commander

Originally Posted by burgan

this is why i am glad i recently moved to oklahoma and could afford to have enough land on which to fly. not to rub it in, but it's great to walk outside and have your own flying field.

It must be nice.

Will

Scarce, Nonsense. There is plenty of it. The problem is we all want to live right next to eachother and overpopulate one area which intern leads to stepping on eachothers toes ect. which leads to enfocring stict rules so we all get along and dont shoot eachother.

Ever heard the theory of too many monkeys in one cage?

The trend is not limited to Calif.... Its pretty well going nationwide.

As more people fly models, there will be more accidents and more cities will become aware thet the activity can involve risk. Cities don't like risks that could get them sued, and having a law that says "no flying in the park" protects the city.

in both indiana and texas i found it difficult to find a place to fly that was reasonably close to where i lived. and these were not big cities, yet growing quickly.

It seems like space is getting smaller and smaller all of the time.

yup.......found 2 new park areas that have banned the use of r/c planes. this is getting annoying!

So far, we have been lucky here in St. Louis that there are not any bans that I am aware of. I'm sure it will only take one incident and bans will roll in.

Barry

i'm kinda lucky. i have a smallish park (two soccer fields next to each other) about a mile away. i can fly just about my whole fleet in it. the "bigger" planes i can fly with my "club" at a public field about 25 min. away. since i don't use gearboxes in any of my planes, people barely notice me. when i land, some people come over to talk and are pretty positive and have no problem with me flying there.
the field my "club" flies at is public so we are EXTRA careful not to spoil it (i.e. leave broken props, not make a nuisance). so far, things are going ok. the funny thing about is, the sheriffs department is right across the street. usually one or two cruisers will stop by and chat. mind you, we fly early in the morn and on sunday's. most are done flying by noon.
we all know that it's only going to take ONE incident and WAM!! we'll be gone.

Mr. Pibb, you should make the trek and come fly with us.

Originally Posted by Mr.Pibb

I refuse to pay to be a part of the local "club" just so I can fly my little park flyers. I might be willing to join the AMA as long as they would lobby for the right to fly in these little parks!

The guys who would be doing the Lobbying would have to be from the very same local clubs that you have refused to join. The AMA only has 2 people to cover site acquisition assistance for the entire US.
You should also steer clear of all Metropark and Columbus Parks & Recreation properties until you get written permission from them.