I live in Fort Lee NJ. Are there any parks or recreation areas that are Park Flyer friendly ? Few of the bigger parks in the area have posted signs stating RC Airplanes are prohibited. I'm a newbie looking for a location to fly small foamy planes.

hey vinnie
I'm in Bergen County as well. I fly from time to time at Dunkerhook Park. Its the BergenCounty Silent Flyers Field. Google them to get more info. Its not that close to Ft Lee but it is nice and open. I seem to recall that in Leonia or Ridgefield there's Overpeck Park but I'm not at all sure if its ok to fly there. Depending on the scale of your aircraft you can usually fly on school ball fields but this time of year is tricky due to organized team sports.

Good Luck

Steve

Hey Steve,
Thanks for the info. I actually posted my message due to the fact that I saw signs at the main section of Overpeck Park stating RC flying is restricted. I have been flying at local school yards but just this morning my little Ezfly got taken away by the wind and ended up on someone's rooftop. Haven't been able to recover the plane yet.

I will look up Dunkerhook park. This is such a great hobby and I can't figure out why more people in this area are not into it these days.

sorry to hear about your plane! When you get it back, be sure to use a label maker or similar with your name and phone# stating "reward if found". Worth a small outlay to get your plane back! Maybe leave a note on the door, ring doorbell?

I fly multirotors in line of sight (LOS) and first person video (FPV). I've been doing it for about 6 months now having dabbled with micro helis and such prior to that. Kind of have it in my DNA as my Dad was into the hobby back in the late 60's and early 70's. All there was back then were gassers and he was a pretty good pylon and pattern flyer.

Thats too bad about Overpeck. Its a big park from what I've seen. Its tough up here in North NJ - densest populated county in the state, densest state in the union. I also fly at Northern Highlands Regional HS in Allendale when there arent games going on - there are 3 large fields side by side and definitely gives you some room to stretch out. Dunkerhook is a good fpv practice field for me but its tough not to have people try to talk with me when I have the goggles on. Crashed yesterday while someone started asking me questions!
Just googled the ezfly as I was not familiar with it - its a slow flyer and very quiet - not encouraging you to break the rules at Overpeck but can you pretend you didn't see the sign?!
Good luck!

good news! just got my plane back! I did leave a note and then stopped by the house yesterday afternoon to speak to the owner. Since the roof was not accessible we couldn't get the plane down directly. Today, I got a call from him.. the wind must have blown the plane down over night and now I have my plane back. 2S battery was at 5.4 volts! Just placed an order for 4 more. I still also have a BYOB which is a awesome RET plane when the wind is low like today. Had some great flights today.

The EZfly is slow but is also loud as its a pusher plane. The BYOB is quiet. If I were to fly something at overpeck it would have to be the BYOB. Looking forward to flying tomorrow after work (if I can find a free park/school yard).

nice! congrats on getting it back - not familiar with byob plane...

Hi Vinnieg,
I am glad you got your plane back. It won't be the last one, which is in the nature of the hobby. These planes sometimes have their own mind, and are not listening to us.
Anyhow, regarding Dunkerhook, the Bergen County Silent Fliers have been flying at the Dunkerhook Park for 16 years as well as being chartered by the AMA. We are the only club that has access to that park.
To fly there you need a valid AMA license (the full license not park flyer one), and to join the club ($15 initiation + $15 annual membership). With that you can fly at the field whenever you want, and also fly free on our annual Warwick funfly in June, if you offer your volunteering services. Also, we have an annual breakfast that will take place at Warwick airpotrt this fall. Members will be flying there free, too. I have a video of this year's funfly on my youtube channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/pajonate?feature=mhee

Also, you can get more information on:

http://www.bergencountysilentfliers.net/

BTW, we had one member who lived in Fort Lee and was coming to fly regularly with us. He moved to our field's town afterwards, Fair Lawn, lol. NOw he is 2 mins from the field.

Take care and I hope to hear from you soon.
Pavle Ancevski
BCSF Secretary

Hi Pavle,

Looks like the BCSF is a great option to consider. My biggest problem is that I need a field that is close by or on my way to work so I can get some flight time in during the weekdays. It’s hard to find time to fly consistently on the weekends. I just moved a bit further away to Edgewater. Dunkerhook park is a little out of my way but I think I may stop by sometime in the weekend to see others fly. I'm sure this hobby would be a bit more fun when you interact with people that are as crazy about it as you are. Thanks for the info!

-vinnie

you can count on me guys!! im joing the club!!!

Hi Vinnieg,

Have you found your flying park?
I live in Fort Lee too. Few years ago I used to fly my foamy at Constitution park. Not a big park but enough room for foamy.
Now I am starting into heli and looking for better park to fly.

I use to live down the street from there before I move to edgewater! currently I fly at two places places: Palisades Park (right behind the Shop-Rite) and Palisades High school. Shoot me a PM sometime.. we can meet up.

-vinnie

Hi Vinnie,

Have you checked overpeck county park at callenger rd?
I am here at the moment and its huge and wide open.

I tried to go there once but there was some marathon going on so I turned around.. Looks like it's a newly constructed park. I need to go check it out. Are there lots of people there or is it pretty empty on the field ? I'm at work right now.

There were a lot of people on kids playground area but the football/soccer fields and concert are were empty. This is the perfect spot for flying. Hopefully they are do not put flying warning like on the other side of the part (old one)

I went to the new Overpeck County Park over the long weekend and was very happy to see the big field and people flying kites. I decided to drive around and scope out the entire park before pulling out my foamie. I got to the north end of the park (toward Fort Lee road) and found a big electronic scrolling sign that stated.kite flying is permitted in the fields but radio control aircrafts are not. I was greatly disappointed and left.

This sucks! These rules are ridiculous. There is a big difference between a .40 size gas plane and a 5 ounce electric foamie but both operate under the same rules. I bet my 5 ounce foamie does no more damage than a flying kite.