Thanks to those that contacted me re the FrSky Module and the Red SolarTex . All Sorted now .
Thanks again and a happy Christmas .
Phil Fearn

Hi all . Does anyone have a meter or so of Red Solartex they are willing to sell ?
Please note its the Normal  Red I want and NOT the brighter Vintage red .

Thanks and a Happy Christmas to everyone at BPMFC

Phil Fearn

Gate locked.

Hi, The field gate is now closed.Until further notice.

 Thank To Vaughn  now all sorted

Hi All .
Bit of a long shot but does anyone have a FrSky Futaba Tx Module they want to sell ? a Club mate is looking for one and they have now  been discontinued by FrSky
It doesn't have to be the Telemetry type pictured ,the earlier non telemetry type will do .
Pm me or email if you can help.

regards

Phil

Bmfa Update

There is no real change to the situation as published. All parties are currently awaiting the outcome of the Secretary of State’s deliberations on the matter and there is little we can add until we receive this. What we can confirm however is that the DRES scheme will not be rolled out on the 1st October (it seems unlikely that it will be rolled out before 14th October at the earliest) and for the time being we would therefore suggest that it remains ‘business as usual’ for our members. We would also encourage members not to rush into registering or taking the test when the DRES is eventually rolled out until we have issued further guidance. We will update members as soon as we receive further information from the Secretary of State for Transport, the Department for Transport and/or the Civil Aviation Authority.n

Great fun today thx guys :)

Meeting Cancelled.

The next club meeting has been cancelled.
See you all at the AGM. Dec.

Maiden of Ade's ROC HOBBY NEMESIS

Tony's Maiden

Dragonfly remaiden after paintjob looks amazing :)

Update

Rob Buckley

An Update on the UK Regulations for Model Flyers

PostAugust 23rd, 2019, 8:28 am

We would like to record our thanks to all those members who responded to our ‘Call to Action’ in response to CAP1775, the CAA’s consultation of the Drone Registration and Education Scheme (DRES) for which they are expecting our members to contribute a significant element of the annual £2.8 million running costs.

The response from our members was fantastic, with the CAA receiving over 11,000 responses to the consultation – the biggest ever response they have ever received to anything. Despite the huge response to their proposals, the current indications are that the CAA & DfT have essentially dismissed it and will plough on with the scheme outlined in CAP1775 regardless. The CAA’s response to CAP1775 is due to be published by the end of August.

The Aviation Minister / DfT are still of the firm opinion that all model aircraft flyers (ie those over 18) should register as operators individually, and that it would not be appropriate for the Associations to register on their members' behalf or be granted any exemptions against the DRES requirements. This appears to be solely to make the job of the police easier when checking papers / identifying miscreants rather than any safety reason.

The only potential concession suggested by the CAA/allowed by the DfT would be to permit the UK Associations to upload operator registration data for those members joining/renewing by the end of January 2020. All members would still have to pay the full fee however, and this would require the Associations to collect the fee from every member to pass on to the CAA. Due to transaction charges, we would have to collect a little over £17 from every member in order to pass on £16.50 to the CAA. Members joining/renewing after the end of January would have to register/pay directly on the DRES website regardless.

In addition, all members (including juniors) will still be required to take the CAA’s Remote Pilot competency test on the DRES website and Association Proficiency will not be recognised at this time.

Considering all the above factors, the situation remains unacceptable to the UK Associations. After nine months of being slow timed/fobbed off/ignored, we feel that it is important that we now work to establish a clear position so that members know where they stand in good time for 2020 renewals.

The situation can be summarised as follows:

1. At the present time, the UK Associations will have no direct involvement in the registration of their individual members into the DRES as operators or confirmation of their competency as remote pilots.

2. Compliance with the requirements of the DRES will therefore be entirely a matter for individual members to decide upon.

3. Whilst the UK Associations would obviously encourage members to participate in the DRES, we will have no direct involvement with it and cannot monitor or enforce compliance (coupled with the fact that only those members flying aircraft weighing more than 250g outdoors are required to register). Compliance will therefore be advisory rather than a condition of membership.

4. However, it is important to note that the insurance cover provided to members covers ‘lawful and recognised activities’ and as such cover could only be assured for those operating lawfully (which includes participation in the DRES where required from the 30th November) which members should consider when deciding how to proceed. We are still working with insurers to clarify the final position in terms of members and clubs.

One of the main reasons cited by those members indicating their intention not to comply with DRES has been their reluctance to be added to a list of ‘potential suspects’ in the event of another ‘Gatwick incident’, which is fully understandable given the disgraceful way in which the Police and media dealt with an innocent model flyer. However, we have received assurances that the registration information will be held securely by the CAA and the level of access routinely granted to the Police will only confirm whether someone’s registration number is current. For an individual’s full contact details to be accessed would require a written application to the CAA from the Police for a clearly defined reason.

The other main reason cited by members indicating non-compliance with the DRES is in objection to the imposition of mandatory competency tests. Many model flyers consider this to be a measure primarily introduced to deal with unlawful ‘drone’ operations, with no differentiation/recognition for the century of safe operation established by model flyers and no recognition of any existing achievements held by individuals. The DRES website does however include comprehensive training material on what is being tested and the test is very easy, with the required pass mark being 16 out of 20 questions. The system does highlight any incorrect answers afterwards (and tells you what the answer should have been) and you can take the test as many times as required. The CAA will provide telephone support to anyone encountering difficulties with the system and we understand that a hard copy of the test will be mailed out on request to those without internet access.

Additional police powers to enforce the DRES, issue fixed penalty notices etc. are due to be introduced in the DfT’s Unmanned Aircraft Bill which has not yet started the parliamentary process, so may or may not be in force by the end of November.

It is regrettable that we have been placed in this deeply unsatisfactory position by a combination of the lack of imagination and intransigence of the DfT/Aviation Minister coupled with the ineffectiveness of the CAA in fighting our corner. We had hoped that a change in Government and in particular the appointment of Grant Shapps as the new Secretary of State for Transport might help our cause, but there is little evidence yet to indicate that his strong support of model flying from the backbench has transferred to his cabinet role.

There are still ongoing issues to be clarified with the CAA (such as our opposition to carrying external registration markings and whether control line aircraft can be excluded from the requirements) and we will provide further updates on progress in due course.

Following our most recent meeting on the 19th August, we are awaiting written advice from the CAA which we expect in the next few days. We are also working with insurers to clarify any insurance implications. Once in receipt on this information, we will then issue our assessment of the options available for the members of the UK model flying Associations and affiliated clubs.
We hope this clarifies the current situation. We will continue our battle in the hope that the situation for UK model flyers can be improved, especially when the more favourable European Regulations come into effect (hopefully) in July 2020, which we believe remains the intent regardless of BREXIT.

In the meantime, please continue to make your views known to the DfT/CAA and your local MP to help us keep the fight ‘alive’.

LMA Secretary - I've got a reasonable idea where you live!

Sunday Maiden

Scale day

Scale day all set for tomorrow morning 1030 start.
Weather is all good for the day.

Rain stopped play ;)

Chilled Friday Evening :)

Scale Day

Hi,
Scale day set for the 4th of August.
Start time 10.30

Grass

Field being cut this morning.

Tuesday's fun in the sun :)

Well done Trevor for keeping the runway open ;)

Ade's Phase 6 on the cliffs :)

A very quiet and windy Sunday afternoon, joined by Alex for a while. A few photo's of my Graphite by Alex.

New bits in at rapid rc

They have the new fms fox glider 300mm only one and the fms Fox glider 2320mm four of  the prices are the 300mm £409;99 and 2300 mm £179;99   All so some oleo legs all different sizes. With more products to follow.

Gr8 fun thx guys :)

CAA WANTS OUR AIRSPACE - AMAZON & GOOGLE ?

DRONE DELIVERIES - Just had to post this to show you why I think the CAA has gone ahead with their draconian proposals which directly affects our hobby.
Could this all be down to BIG BUCKS with Amazon and Google !
I have posted this together with other info on the RCM&E forum site as well.
After viewing the video remember this is NOT being done in the USA yet -
WHY - the model flyers over there have all got together and blocked Amazon and Google from the lower airspace (so far) but over here they suspect our resolve is far weaker...
Please make sure you do something about it. Back the BMFA & LMA / SMA. Send letters into your MP...
In short be active or lose your hobby.
Regards Peter

Sunday fun

Glimmer of hope well done 🤞

https://bmfa.org/News/News-Page/ArticleID/2585/IMPORTANT-UPDATE-CAA-PROPOSALS-PLEASE-READ-SHARE

Friday aftermoon b4 early may bank hoilday wend :)

New Laws

Important update, read and take action.

Following the recent publication of CAP1775 which launched a consultation on the CAA's proposed arrangements for registration fees for operators of unmanned aircraft, the UK model flying associations (BMFA, LMA, SAA & FPVUK) held a meeting last night with advisers.

The text in CAP1775 is far more serious than the issue of registration fees alone. The consultation reveals that key policy decisions (such as age limits, not allowing us to register members on their behalf and repetitive competency requirements) appear to have been imposed on us in the absence of either consultation or the further discussions the DfT/CAA publicly promised earlier this year.

The policies outlined are inconsistent with the EASA Regulations for model flying associations, because they mandate requirements which should instead be subject to negotiation and agreement with us prior to incorporation into our operational authorisation. As the scope of the consultation is limited to the fee arrangements, it does not invite comment on these wider policy issues.

As the CAA/DfT have evaded engagement with us on policy development since the end of 2018 and have now seemingly closed the door on us with CAP1775, we believe that it is now time for members to hold them directly to account.

The document available heresummarises the views of the UK Associations, explains what we hoped to achieve and outlines where we believe the CAA/DfT have failed our members, who are the largest single stakeholder group affected by CAP1775 and details what you can do to help.

Please feel free to use this document as part of a response or print and pass to members who have not received this email.

Unfortunately, the issue of the Journal that you have just received went to print before this happened, which is unfortunate timing!

This call to action is just one element of a wider co-ordinated campaign. There is still a long way to go with this and please be assured it is by no means the end of the story.

We need a big response on this and we would urge every member to help us.

Any questions, as ever, please let me know.
  
Best Regards

Rob Buckley Secretary - Large Model Association
secretary@largemodelassociation.com

Rapid rc Shops new number.

                     01795 870414

Concerns you.

Afternoon, As you may have already seen, earlier today the CAA released their consultation on the charges for their upcoming drone registration scheme. https://consultations.caa.co.uk/finance/drone-registration/ This registration scheme is currently proposed to apply to all of us who fly model aircraft, as well as recreational and commercial drone operators. That means every single person who wants to fly a model aircraft in the UK (including every LMA, BMFA, SAA, FPVUK member) will, before the end of November 2019, have to- Register themselves on the government website Pay £16.50 for the privilege of registering Renew registration and pay £16.50 every year Pass an online test of theoretical competence on the government website (for free) Please read the consultation in the above link, and please respond to the consultation. Again, to be clear, we need your help to communicate how popular this will be with the UK’s modellers, so PLEASE RESPOND TO THE CONSULTATION. I will be responding formally on behalf of the LMA as well as working with the BMFA, SAA & FPV UK to meet with the DfT and the CAA and apply political pressure via the APPG for GA and other routes to get the best possible result for modellers. We need your support though in the form of weight of numbers responding to the consultation. I met yesterday with the developers of the system in Gatwick, and the proposed system is quite straightforward to use, if a bit expensive to use! They are however only providing what the CAA & DfT have asked for. If you have any questions, please ask. I do however know it is overkill, the charge is completely excessive, only the law abiding will comply with it, it will be widely ignored, especially by anyone upto no good and it is a ‘seen to be doing something’ knee jerk reaction to the perceived ‘drone menace’ that lives in some influential people’s heads. Based on the predicted numbers or registrants, modellers will be approximately 25% of the numbers, so PLEASE RESPOND TO THE CONSULTATION to make modellers the largest group making their views known on the questions in the consultation- a) What is your view on the CAA’s proposed charge, in terms of the level and structure of the charge? b) Do you have alternative ideas about how the CAA could cover the costs of running the registration scheme? c) Are the CAA’s estimated volumes appropriate for the make-up of drone operators in the UK, based on existing sources of data and your own observations? Best Regards Rob Buckley Secretary - Large Model Association secretary@largemodelassociation.com

Concern's you.

Bmfa.

Following the recent sudden announcement of Flight Restriction Zones around protected aerodromes capturing the operation of all unmanned aircraft of any weight and at any height (and the unreasonable three week notice period given for our clubs and members to comply), the CAA have dropped yet another bombshell on us with no prior warning.

They have today published a consultation (CAP1775) on their proposed charges for the registration of all operators of unmanned aircraft – which includes all of our members.  The fee the CAA is proposing is £16.50 per annum which is significantly more than the cost levied on model flyers in any other EASA country, something they have conveniently omitted from the comparison figures in the document.  An interesting direct comparison not included is France where their equivalent registration scheme is completely free and valid for five years.

It is accepted that the EASA regulations do mandate the registration of all operators of unmanned aircraft (including model flyers) in their country of residence, but also state that in terms of model flying ‘Associations may register their members into the registration system on their behalf’ which the CAA have made excessively onerous and also completely disregarded in their consultation document.  

There are some significant costs associated with the ongoing upkeep of the CAA registration system which they are expecting you to pay for.   We believe that their figures for the number of users registering in the system are also somewhat ‘optimistic’ and the consequence of fewer users could be even higher costs.  The BMFA did offer to make its new membership system available to the CAA at cost, but didn’t receive any response!

We believe that the proposals will be detrimental to the future of model flying in the UK and place requirements on us which are more excessive than those for manned aviation – despite the DfT/CAA acknowledging that model flying has established an excellent record over the last century.  Even in France where the registration scheme is free, the model flying community has already reduced by 10%.

The UK Model Flying Associations are strongly opposed to the CAA’s proposals and believe that they represent the worst excesses of ‘gold plating’ of regulations (something which the CAA are committed to avoid).  We would strongly encourage all members to respond to the consultation and register their concerns without delay (please encourage your club mates to do the same) before the UK Government/CAA destroy model flying in the UK. 

The UK Model Flying Associations will continue to work with the CAA & DfT and bring political pressure to bear to try and minimise the impact of excessive regulation on our members, but we need your support to show the strength of feeling, so please respond to the consultation. 

Full details of the consultation and how to respond can be found here: https://consultations.caa.co.uk/finance/drone-registration/

The consultation will close on 7 June 2019.

Rapid rc

Hi all,
Just a quick message to let you all know that we are going to be posting on here with what we are doing at rapid, what models/products we have and any new items that we are getting in.

Robin Stuart.

Super fun bank holiday wend :)

Quick video of Peter's ( rcfly ) Maiden of his
Giant U Can Fly :)

Easter Good Friday fun

Making the most of the good weather :)

Gate Now Open.

Hi all,
GRASS HAS BEEN CUT.😃

Sunday morning slightly warmer than friday ;)

              Good company today thx Ade Mark Richard

Very cold North Easterly Friday fun thx guys

Rain stopped play but we still smiling :)

A blustery day!

April 1st 2019

It may have been a blustery old evening but the 20mph wind was no competion for our determination! @Paulheed & @IanMcGregor!

Left: Dean's Tundra / Center: Paul's Quad. / Right: Ian's Tundra.

Ian & I got the tundras out and made haste for the field, Paul quickly caught up with his quad-copter.

We was all amazed at how well the Durafly Tundra's handled the wind given there sized and weight, we were both running on 2800 mah 4s Batteries.

Expert photography by Paul.

Add caption

Billyno8s again just as well coz not feeling the lil heli ;)

Friday Birthday Bash thx guys was fun :)

Club Meeting 1st April cancelled.

Hi all,
The next club meeting has had to be cancelled.
Due to work / life commitments there will not be enough committee members present.

The next meeting will be held on Mon June 3rd.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
Dave Cook.

Spotted in Erith.

Windy friday afternoon

In the absence of Paul  posting on yesterday's fun (he's slacking!), here's a picture of Paul flying in last week's foggy Friday.

Sunday afternoon :)

V-900 VS EFXTRA ... which is fastest ?

Foggy friday

Super fun afternoon with great company recovered quad flew great note water on field.. the icing on the cake was Blackburn Dave turning up with well i will use his quote i've heard him say soo many times....... " ELECTRIC WHAT'S THAT?" Actually flew great... great turn out .. good to see John n Sheila 2 bring a plane next time John ;) thx guys good fun :)

First flight for February! Lovely weather, shame about the temperature. Paul, just for you I did a short video of a chuck of the Snipe. Not a good video as you weren't there to do it, had to lay the camera on the ground. Hope your mum is doing good.

Velocidrone simulator :)

Video of old BPMFC photos found and dusted off

Found this video today, it may have been copied to the club site before ?, however all my planes pictured still exist.I wonder how many others do?

 

First Friday of 2019 :)

Richard Tom Lee Ray and myself plus visit from Brian good afternoons fun thx  :)