WPHSFunFly2016
Introduction/Definition/etc
West Potomac High School Fun Fly in South County, Fairfax County, a charity event for the engineering lab/ flight club or similar, because I'm not a student there and didn't go in as press, will be more informal about things...
Body
My third event there, one previously was cancelled after trying to get outside flying approved by the FAA, a long standing site, within the now 30 nautical mile radius, post FAA registering, some people got together, students did registration, food, tables, chairs, and a lot else in making it a good event...
I, on the other hand, slouched off, not charging my batteries, I discovered after I got there, not the rather quick charging LiPos of the drone, but the RC transmitter, 2650 mAH AA's, 6 to charge, but some little mousie type voice(s) reminded me to even bring as I was packing early morning to leave...
So I will try describing the setup, as some locals want to know what others are doing, almost corporate spying like, the territorialness of this stuff is getting further insane, and not even to Super Bowl Sunday Levels, which it was, early am start 8 am, I arrived around 9 ish, maybe, a cold frozen start with a little bit of ice at the entrance, but went straight thru it, even in the turn, and did O.K... Concern over the cold, early start, predawn departure, slowed some things for me, but still happened, two wheeled varieties are one thing, four or more with heaters, etc probably had an easier time of it...
Brought a new Staples drone TechToyz with camera bought for little relatives, but they weren't allowed to have, lacking parental approvals... Opened it on site, with instructions very similar to what I had typed in for
DronesChart2015 and after personally doing FAADOTDroneRegistrationSiteUp2015 declining the first try with a card... But getting a number later, privacy problems exist, AMA (Aeronautical Modelling Association or similar) thru emails/ alerts, internet grapevines, suggesting waiting, even after the free time, now past, another deadline might be soon, or past, YOU might have to check, IIRC...
So backing up a bit, pay $5 to the people waiting at the registration desk, they seem to remember me, I'm not in too much trouble from previous visits, and sign in, name, email, flying or guest spectator, want to buy raffle tickets?
I'll overeat a bit and see, my standard answer by now... On raffle, $50 Hobby Hanger gift card, AMA? water bottle, and some other stuff, I Don't Recall, exactly... Raffle tickets in the $1 each range, multiple for less, volume discounts, like 5 for $4, but that seems a little drastic, and some had the money to do that, I'd been stopped near a local school for a traffic violation, and ticketed, leaving very little for the month plus to play around, besides the personal financial cliff, I'm still hanging on...
Anyways, in the wide hallways entrance areas, toward the concessions pass thru and some dining type tables, there are a few display tables, one toward the corner for AMA posterboard trifold type display, and some free and low cost ($5, $10, and up) vintage electronics, a free helicopter (gas, and old, wondering If I could restore it, but not have anywhere to fly, as outside for gas probably required, I have not personally seen gas powered planes flying, models that is, and quads are all electric, as far as I can tell, you see I'm not an expert, with only a couple calendar years, at max, the older guys, teacher, administrator who wandered thru, and AMA guys, mostly older fixed wing guys, and a bunch of quadcopters, even a guy with a Chinook (?) with double props on both sides, kind of like a helicopter with two rotors on top, nothing on tail, and some other odds and ends I hope to get to below, eventually...
But for the newish people of which my neighboring table was one set, a nice couple with a light fixed wing plane, taking turns with a Spektrum 6 remote/ radio/transmitter, and trying not to bring the others fixed wings and other assorted birds down, the gym partitioned in the middle two rows of tables, free flying, it turns out very Free, not just motor less, once wound up with rubber bands, clamped or similar to the table, even paper airplane designs built by young and old, almost performing, they had cardboards they kept under it, not touching, but maybe helping keep it afloat/aloft, is probably a better word, fluids, in liquid and gas states, updraft from something, downdraft from the occasional heating systems kicking in, no problems seen from power fluctuations nor EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference) my SafeLinkWireless prepaid subsidized phone even powered on, noticing no planes going down nor problems, where hearing stuff happens elsewhere...
FPV Racing events might have a whiteboard frequencies transmitters chart, more rules might exist, one suited African American walked in, talking to me like I knew something, and quickly walked into the field, and I made a joke about might think you are FAA (suit), and walk in the middle area, most people very excited and wanting to participate, making a free flight plane was probably an option, I just wandered back and forth, my usual pacing, finally flying one charge, got two bars on my 4 AA 2650 mAH batteries, and one bar, on 2 more for the remote, (requires 6xAA, 9V total wondering if I could have used/ rigged/ MacGyvered up a 9V cell), others had thought ahead and bought discount multipacks, rows of various type of LiPo and other chargers near the end outlets, a pallet / skid in warehouse terms, keeping stuff off the floor, nearby plywood boxes with wheels for chairs, tables, etc, at corners, it was comfortable, and another gym opened up by the host engineering teacher, for a few quadcopter, FPV guys, and I went along for the tour, later flying my little el cheapo quadcopter with camera, and dual GoPros on, but not finding the button for turning the quadcopter camera on, the 4 Gig bonus card, mislabelled TF card, instead of microSD, might be a translation issue, packaging errors found before, but finding them part of the fun...
Other AirCraft
This subsection will be fun to get to, describing all the other types of birds there, one even like a mechanical bird flapping it's wings, bio like, and an orb I asked about something round on a charger under a table, the nice gentleman telling me about a $5 Five and Below deal that didn't work as intended, but still interesting to try, in my view, thinking it was a battery and prop pack, modular, but actually the entire unit... Two props, flying around like a chicken with it's head cut off, probably a bad analogy...
One very large single propped fixed wing was flown all sorts of aerial acrobatics, stalls, flips, turns, everything imaginable, and also scaring some of the other birds, it was break time for many others, time to take a bathroom break, recharge, etc... and he got most of the half of the gym and a lot of attention from newbies, myself included...
Families showed up, some with aircraft, others without, just spectators, one set wanting access to the 3D printer, but not for today, I had previously gotten a tour of the lab, a set of people were going, and I tagged along, nice setup, interesting projects, wish I had more closer to me, and personally, but alas, the kids have all the fun, but they also have graded stuff to do, and after all, it's high school, not college, M.I.T. nor a defense lab, but seemed similar in many other nondescript ways...
Photos and Video
Photos and video pending host approval, snipping out my ugly mug, is this thing on, etc...
No editing likely besides that, other probably have better video and stills, cameras with honking lenses were seen, with teenagers and video cams with older adults, so probably well covered, hopefully keeping my sorry ass out of it, plz...
Links
Starter links, not how I heard about it, mine from emails, of previous events, maybe a GNU MailMan list will start up, amongst the likely over taxed teachers and students following the event(s)...
WPHS Event
http://www.westpotomacengineeringstore.com/events.html
http://www.modelaircraft.org/education/westpotomac.aspx
Chinook
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_H-21
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_Helicopter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Piasecki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_PV-2
still on display? at the
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_F._Udvar-Hazy_Center
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
A good event, wish more were available, closer to me, not sure how that is going to happen, across jurisdictions, and different school systems, community centers, gyms, indoor places and hierarchical structures, most of which I'm not really a part of or in conflict with most of the time anyways, but replicating, cloning, or plain old knowledge transfer type stuff might happen, hopefully in my lifetime, and FAA doesn't get too far into the way of things, more that it already has... /Cough /Snarl /NervousLawyerlyPose SEE FAA Update section below for good news, for some suburbanites...
Clubs and AMA are probably an middle man/ intermediary between kids and adults who want to fly, not really a flight school more hands on lab events, DCDUG, DC Drone Users Group and other organizations, might be a route to that, I started hearing about it from DCDUG and continue on occasion to hope to get my FPV and other build it instead of just buy it type stuff completed, in the air, and log some flight time, more than a few minutes before crashing, while learning, the hard way, mostly...
Discussion
A place for feedback on the page presented
So what do you think is reasonable for flying?
Indoor only?
Make changes in government, officers/ senior executives, S.E.S., political appointments, etc, to make it better?
Instead of the Sputnik space race of the cold war era, drones and quadcopters, legislations, and other considerations exist, including accessibility, many safety, and digital divide issues, exist and widen, perhaps, even in this relatively affluent metropolitan area(s)...
Checklists of Privacy Rules, recording on your own land, to shared space, to others nearby, and safety and records of others flying around you, how to do that privately,safely, without the normal air traffic controller(s), radio towers, observation decks, etc, in a social sense, if you know how to fly, what the bird is, how it works, have read up about it, are of age, capable, sane, etc, maybe you can enter the arena, of flyers, and participate, in a controlled chaos, most enjoy, others might be scared of, mostly don't be a jerk, flying, at least, is probably the main thing, others are around, some carefully crafted replicas of war birds, hand crafted, some from kits, and more than my little old mind can fathom, but they have been kind enough to encourage me, allow me to participate, I've bought two used birds, there, at other events, and wonder what is next, on the steep learning curve to becoming a responsible, good flyer, instead of just a moron with a few electronics, and an attitude, that needs adjusting...
Perhaps like most starting out...
FAA Update
The next day, the FAA changed their ruling, or amended it, something, that allows people to fly in the outer ring of the donut, as part of the SFRA, Special Flight Restriction Area or similar acronym, with calling an hour ahead, and other common sense rules like below 400 feet, within sight, not over people, in crowds, etc... See the FAA site for more info on that, and make sure your Model has it's FAA number on it, per regs, etc...
https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=84787
and the like...
AMA is still suggesting waiting registering, a legal case from a lawyer/ pilot and drone operator in Silver Spring is trying for the privacy angle, but might not be having much luck, some legal fund probably exists, will see if I find links, etc... Or do your own homework, /Snark...
License
Creative Commons Share and Share Alike, Non Commercial, Non Derivative, for the whole site's contents unless otherwise explicitly stated
Page History
20160212 Jerry
- some wording changes
- typos
- need be able to add words to the pbworks dictionary, if I look it up, find it online, and the system still red squiggly lines it, then there is a problem. UpDraft, DownDraft, neighboring, mousie, maybe squigly, will see, and others over time
- might get to adding some other birds flying descriptions
- problems at the end of the event, again, searched? harassed? stalked?
- video editing, hosts not approving, specifically, but not disapproving, so if there is/were a photo / video policy, how to comply??? anything, in general, from the public school systems? put their birds in place of their faces, bodies, etc, with OpenCV or similar, instead of facial recognition, and put the modified one up? frame after frame and a trajectory, might be interesting, but don't think I have the facilities to do that...
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20160208 Jerry
- Jerry created this page to log an event, after several attendances, wanted to keep to myself, but others demanded it to be written about...
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