Float flying in Sussex

[Sheldon Holy]

Hi,

As far as i can see, there is very little on the way of float flying in sussex, and i have been thinking to get together a group, find a venue and fly! My first thoughts have been Ardingly Resivour, and i will probably contact them soon. Being 12, i would probably not be able to do much in the way of organising but  i could of course help! 

Anyway, an idea, so fi anyone is interested, get posting!

 Sheldon

[Phil Claridge]

hello sheldon and welcome i live in bognor regis. i have two sea planes ready to fly a seamaster and a twin i have flown the seamaster off water but that was up at nottingham acouple of years ago. there are 5 or 6 of us at cadmac who have floats ready but no available water,so if you can find out about ardingly we are waiting with baited breath 2 pilots are b certificate the others are a,s all are safety first flyers regards phil

[Sheldon Holy]

Thanks Phil, for the quick response!! There are also people in my club (brighton) That want to float fly. So, there is definately interest! I know that thay race glow rc boats there, so this shouldn't be a problem. I will get on the phone ASAP!! I think that there should be a minimum of an a cert to fly from a lake, as it is not as easy as fom ground! I have my A, club 'permit' and will get my B next time the weather is on our side! As for planes, i have a very nice low winger with a 40 in it that would be perfect on foats. I have a video of it here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pL4u50PpqKs&feature=channel_page

I will have a look for Ardingly's contact details and will tell you what they say.

Sheldon

[Sheldon Holy]

Ok! Just ot off the phone, i will email them extra stuff. They were very friendly, i think it might be ok, but mit might be leccy only... so might have to start looking again. BUT, they bight let us fly glow as well. Being a resivour, they were slightly worried about oil from the engines etc....

Ok, i have just sent the email, here is a copy of what i sent:

Dear sirs,

Due to the demand and lack of places to fly model aircraft from lakes in Sussex, i have been asking people if they would be interested in getting together and finding a place to fly from. Theese model aircraft will have floats fitted and so can fly from lakes, such as your resivour.
The models do not need deep water to fly from and so could be flown from any part of the lake. Here are some links and infromation of model float flying: http://www.modelflying.co.uk/news/article/mps/uan/435
Of couse, to avoid any polution in the resivour, the flying could be electric only.
All pilots would be members of the British Model Flying Association and would have insurance and, of course, a minimum skill of flying would be required to fly at the lake to minimise the chance of a plane crashing in the lake.
The website for the British Model Flying Association is: www.bmfa.org

I hope that this sport will be of interest and that Ardingly Resevoir would be able to be used to fly from. The reason why Ardingly was our first choice was:
It is centerally located, is very big and is a perfect place to fly models.

Regards,

Sheldon Holy

[Phil Claridge]

well done sheldon you are a star  if it turns out to be electric only thats not a problem as most planes can convert, regards pollution if they let glow boats race there i would think there would be less pollution with planes as their time on the water is much shorter usually. the use of drip trays  and tarpualing sheets can minimise ground spills. crashes on water do not cause much pollution either as most planes float even in bits . flying of water is not to dificult but landing has to be thought about a bit more touch and goes are great fun when all goes well, lets hope this gets off the water{pun} we will give you all the help we can hopefully others will join in, i expect we will hear from graham ashby as he flys from water regards phil

[Sheldon Holy]

Good! I have not yet heared back from Ardingly, but it turns out that they race full size power boats... i'm sure they pick up some muck in the water-cooling pipes! Yes, i am really looking forward to (maybe) flying from water, it just looks so fun!! Sheldon

[Russell English]

Sounds fun!

There's always Arlington reservior or Piddinghoe pond.

 What about the river Adur (away from the airport!)?

[Sheldon Holy]

Yeah! I always thought of the river Adur... i am a 10 minute drive from there, in Poynings (by the Dyke). BUT, when you go a safe distance from the airport, the river is too narow to do safe landings, and i would be surprised if we would be allowed. Also, if a plane ditched due to a deadsstick, the very fast flow would mean that it could quite quickly become a big mess, and the strong winds will make precision flying very hard.

Looked up Arlington... First impressions: The best place yet! But, this is what i say on the home page 'Fishing is the only form of recreation allowed on the reservoir...'

So that place is out of the question!

Looked at piddinghoe pond, just as ideal! If we have problems with Ardingly, we can, of course look into Piddinghoe. Oh, yes. Where is Piddinghoe?

Another thing, there is a pond just by my house, and if there was no vegetation around it, and minus the tree in the middle, it would be spot on!!!

Thinking again, the River Adur would be quite good, it is not windy every day! Really, we need to get together and look at some different venues, and decide.

Finally, i do not know, but would this be a thing where we maybe pay to use the venue? Anyway, still an idea!

Sheldon

[Russell English]

When I was looking at the OS map online, I saw a pond/lake in poynings but couldn't find it on Google earth or Live maps.

When you start looking, there's not much in the way of lakes around here!

 Piddinghoe is  here http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=50.8065,0.03955

[Sheldon Holy]

Hmmmm........ Piddinghoe is good, but maybe too far away..... (for me, but that dosent mean that others cant go!!) Anyway, lets wait and see what ardingly say when (if) they reply.

Sheldon