Trial Flights - Promoting the Hobby

[Martin_K]

I see the BMFA home page has a prominent link inviting people to take a test flight at a local club. Have any of the committee members here been involved in selecting their clubs as participants.

Some of the offers are more challenging than others, slope soaring and free flight for example.

[SIMON CRAGG]

Our club registered when this facility first surfaced after the Countryfile programme. To date, we have had no interest at all, which is not that suprising due to the time of year etc, Good idea though.

[Martin_K]

Thanks Simon, I had not seen it before. It struck me that the content is different to the Club Finder (different web page) so I wondered what was going on.

[CARPERFECT]

We have registered, and have had no requests as yet. Due to the fact we have 10 members not renewed for a number of reasons. Two because of the new regs/£9. three because of age 85+ one lost his job,others lost interest and no time to fly. We need members, we are looking to advertise and approach the local Air Cadets etc. I Have explained to a number of members, i at 58 are of a dying breed, a child of the 60`s / 70`s no electronic toys. It was Football, Maccano, push bikes, Kites, Balsa rubber powered Aeroplanes. It will never return to that again. So we need to get the younger ones involved somehow. We have no 10 to 20`s only 3 in their 20`s none in the 30`s, one in the 40`s, 10 in the 50`s 12 in the 60`s 9 in the 70`s and 4 in their 80`s in my club. I have just got allowing drones for want of a better name, to be allowed on trial for the next 12 months, but mornings only, to see what interest there might be out there, We only allow 4 stroke and leccy. I lost the vote on 2 strokes by the casting vote of the outgoing chairman, He is 86. Now we no longer have ASP/ SC/ Magnum engines. the cost of a new OS Alpha 56 at £300 is too much. To get someone new at a young age into the hobby.

[SIMON CRAGG]

At the close of last year we had 45 members (three of which were "social" non flying members). So far this year 37 have re joined. This number easily covers our overheads. Our losses are similar to the previous post. One worrying fact is that three of our new members have not re joined, so retention of newbies is a priority. We tried everything we could think of to welcome them to the club, including "learner days" etc. One chap joined, paid the full joining fee, and failed to appear at all!. We have given presentations to two groups of Air Cadets, which yielded nobody, and was generally regarded as a bit of a waste of time and effort. We are having some success with our new meeting format. One month a formal meeting with guest speaker, the next month an informal get together, indoor drone flying and buffet. We got just as much done at the informal get together, which attracted a good turn out. So all in all, we are keeping our heads above water and have a very active programme planned, but could always do with a few more members.

[Tim Flyer]

We registered for trial flights but haven’t had requests yet. Most of our new members come from our website link  or from friends of existing members .
Some things we do at our club are frequent summer barbecues and also an annual dinner in December. That helps keep club interest when attendance at the field falls away with the weather.
We also have an active Wots app chat group in which we encourage new members to engage with everyone. The primary purpose of the chat is “who is flying when”.
We also have a Webcam at the field so people can see who is actually there.
A big difficulty for many new/ existing members is knowing whether there are people at the club as they don’t want wasted journeys.
It’s much easier having a chat group and camera as people who “aren’t sure” whether they will go can turn up knowing there are people already there . Its hard for new members having to phone up people they don’t know well and having to make arrangements so the Wots app chat “helps break the ice”.
We also try to be as welcoming as possible to new members and encourage all members to get involved in the club 😊

Edited By Tim Flyer on 14/01/2020 09:06:28

[SIMON CRAGG]

MMmmmm, I like the idea of that web cam on site. Please could you explain the how / what / cost etc etc?.

I forgot to add our biggest asset, which is our club mobile home!. Fully fitted out with toilet, heating, kitchen, lounge (with panoramic window facing the flying field), shop for all those "must have" bits etc. Every Sunday members can be found exchanging flying gossip, drinking tea etc. Turned out to be a fantastic "hub" for all things flying. We are very lucky!.

[Tim Flyer]

Hi Simon . I’m our club Treasurer rather than tech guy so sorry if a bit vague with description. Our camera is solar powered and just needs a relatively cheap SIM card to operate. It is mounted on a long scaffold pole . I think the cost is about the same as a cheap mobile phone SIM package (about £10-15 per month) as the camera only takes still pictures every 5 minutes . It was kindly set up by one of our members who is an expert in these things. We also have a portacabin with a small boiler and hot water/ kitchen and I agree that is much more popular than flying in the winter 😊

Edited By Tim Flyer on 14/01/2020 15:07:05

[Nigel Heather]

Posted by Martin_K on 13/01/2020 14:41:15:

I see the BMFA home page has a prominent link inviting people to take a test flight at a local club. Have any of the committee members here been involved in selecting their clubs as participants.

Some of the offers are more challenging than others, slope soaring and free flight for example.

Not sure it is prominent, in fact I followed your link and couldn’t see it at all - not saying it is not there but after a cursory scan it did not jump out.

The webpage isn’t particularly friendly to the casual inquisitive public, think they would be intimidated by it. That is if they even found it at all.

Are young people today even aware that model aircraft exist, drones maybe, but less sure about model aircraft. I can see drone racing appealing, which is on TV from time to time, probably pops up in their youtube recommendations and is also available as simulators on their phones, tablets and computers.

But harder to imagine where they would get the spark of an interest for more traditional flying.

And even if they did have that spark of interest, not sure their googling would lead them to the BMFA and trial flights.

I hear what you are saying about the ageing hobby. I was at the AGM in December, admittedly there was less than half the members there, but if that was representative at the age of 56 I felt like the youngster.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Martin_K]

Just in case anybody wonders what I was talking about there is;

the new Find a Model Aircraft & Drone Trial Flight page;

and the old BMFA Club Finder page.

My local clubs are not on the new system, which I discovered by accident.

Edited to add;
My local clubs are all on shared use public spaces however, so people see the activity!

Edited By Martin_K on 15/01/2020 09:53:05

Edited By Martin_K on 15/01/2020 09:55:34

[Supersavage]

As a new member of the BMFA I found their website and their membership portal thing really bad to use, even more so if you're viewing it via a phone. I spotted this thread the other day and I couldn't find anything about trial flights.

[Nigel Heather]

Posted by Martin_K on 15/01/2020 09:45:04:

Just in case anybody wonders what I was talking about there is;

the new Find a Model Aircraft & Drone Trial Flight page;

and the old BMFA Club Finder page.

My local clubs are not on the new system, which I discovered by accident.

Edited to add;
My local clubs are all on shared use public spaces however, so people see the activity!

Edited By Martin_K on 15/01/2020 09:53:05

Edited By Martin_K on 15/01/2020 09:55:34

So basically you have to be an active member of a model aircraft forum to be able to find the information on the BMFA site about the trial flights.

My guess is anyone fitting those requirements are already well down the path of model aircraft.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Simon Chaddock]

Martin_K

In the current 'anti drone' climate I am not sure "flying in public spaces" automatically attracts interest in the hobby. In some cases it can be the exact opposite.

[Keith Miles 2]

Posted by Supersavage on 15/01/2020 09:45:41:

As a new member of the BMFA I found their website and their membership portal thing really bad to use, even more so if you're viewing it via a phone. I spotted this thread the other day and I couldn't find anything about trial flights.

I tend to agree, there!

Not very "joined up" is it?

On the "Trial Flight" issue, I would have thought that it is something that should hardly need "promoting", as such unless the club, or group, for whatever reason, are reluctant to attract new members or if site restrictions prevent it.

My club has only been somewhat cautious about general advertising for reasons that have nothing to do with discouraging new members or potential new members but rather with protection of the site and its facilities and equipment. That said, we are a BMFA club and have our own website.

We have always offered "trial flights" to interested visitors and, indeed, recently invested in some new equipment for training purposes.

Also, we have hosted a cub scout group. Great fun! Many of the parents lived in the nearby village and, apparently, were unaware of our existence, despite many years of flying IC models, as is still the case!

[Martin_K]

Simon, some interaction is negative (frosty rather than specific complaints), the majority positive 'nice to see', a tiny amount 'I would like to do that'. All the sites I use (4) are long established, more than 50 years, flying venues.

[Nigel Heather]

If the young generation (excepting those that have grown up in a model aircraft family) are excited by any form of model aircraft flying it i by things like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bITjRQCGEug

Cheers,

Nigel

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Keith Miles 2]

Posted by Tom Sharp 2 on 15/01/2020 23:48:17:

'Trial Flights' is rather off putting, sounds as if the club is judging the newcomer.

'Experience Flights' would seem better.

Newcomers are hardly Donald Trump! They are not “on” trial. The hobby is on trial.

In full-size aviation, the former infers “hands-on” with a qualified instructor, the latter “hands-off” not requiring a qualified instructor. There are also legal implications in that world!

Edited By Keith Miles 2 on 16/01/2020 00:15:18

[Brian Cooper]

My local Club welcomes people who just show up at our field and show an interest. We offer trial flights, and we do them all year round.

On a personal level, I have been introducing the hobby to youngsters since I was a youngster myself -- I started doing this at the age of 13 -- and I haven't stopped yet.

Cubs, Scouts, Air Cadets, we engage with all of them. Kids are always keen to have a go... In times gone by, for every 100 kids who were given a go, there might be 3 or 4 who got into the hobby. . Nowadays, for every 1000 kids who have a go, we are lucky if just one gets involved in the hobby. . It certainly is becoming more difficult to attract youngsters. . Most of them (all of them) have electronic games which they are addicted to. These games are played in isolation indoors, and the kids rarely seem have a desire to spend time outdoors. . Then, of course, there is the issue of parents supporting their kids in any new hobby. Most are not keen unless it involves chasing a football around a field.

The youngsters who are most likely to take an interest in the hobby are the offspring (or grandchildren) of people already in the game, and even then it is not guaranteed.

The times are changing, and getting new blood (of any age) into the hobby is very definitely a challenge.

B.C.

[Glyn44]

A point missed I think is that most flying sites are remotely situated. Kids, even if interested, can’t get there under their own steam, especially carrying a days paraphernalia. Neither of the sites I frequent are even on a bus route.

[SIMON CRAGG]

Similar to other clubs, we do not broadcast our exact location for obvious reasons. The "Trial Flight" trail leads them to phone me in the first instance, apart from security issues the site is difficult to find. I have in the past met newbies at a local landmark......pub!. At present we have one "youngster", who is the grandson of one of our members. He is the only one. At the end of the day, the hobby has changed considerably over the last few years, but as long as there are still enough of us to fund our clubs, there is not a lot we can do about it Still great fun despite all the naysayers etc!.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Keith Miles 2]

Posted by Tom Sharp 2 on 17/01/2020 01:00:38:

Having family youngsters in the club can be a two edged sword.

At one club I am in, one member had his son join. Trouble was he kept shouting at his son whenever the lad made a mistake. So much so that the poor boy told his dad where to stuff his planes and walked away never to be seen at the field again.

I would suggest not a “double edge sword” for a club, but perhaps one for the parent concerned, one who might seem, on the face of it, more discouraging than encouraging!

You say “his” planes.

Maybe that was the problem?