I'm in New York City (Brooklyn to be exact) and I'm really interested in building and flying a UAV. However, I'm wondering whether it's a good idea, or rather if it's even possible to fly an RC plane here. Obviously I'm not planning on flying around skyscrapers or anything, I just want to fly something and take a few camera shots or videos.
As an alternative, I can always take the train out to Long Island and fly there, but that would seem to be a big hassle getting a plane hidden on a train and keeping it all unbroken at the same time.
What do you guys think? Is there anyone here from New York City or some other largely populated city? Where do you fly, how, and when?
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I would get claustrophobic living in any city, let alone New York!
Standing out on the meadow looking west, I can see the chimney smoke from a farm 3 miles off in the distance and somedays even the plume from an OSB lumber plant 20 miles off on the horizon.
Looking north or east I see the trees where a person could easily get lost. To the south is huge Slave Lake, which is dwarfed only by the GreatLakes.
Soon we will be getting the annual influx of Snow Geese, Canadian Geese, 11 varieties of ducks, Blue Herons, Swans, and Pelicans... all of which nest here on their migrations.
When we fly, we have to watch out for the eagles since the WIldlife officers worry we might be harrassing them.
All this I guess I have taken for granted all my life, but listening to the New York issues concerning flying areas, helps me appreciate my freedoms here.
Thanks a lot for helping me out and steering me in the right direction. Greatly appreciated.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=167736
His Octo-Copter is UAV capable and has GPS and a Navi board I believe, you could maybe meet up with him, seems a real nice guy.
One of the reasons why we picked Quads as a start for OpenPilot was because of space, so much easier to test as fixed wing need more room especially when tuning and obvious can go much further if things go wrong. Just as much fun, can hover in position hold and altitude hold full autonomously just a few meters in front of you, but can also move at 50mph as well.
allmost population problems. The only issue is not being able to recover a downed aircraft, but a downed aircraft in a populated area is almost as good as gone as well. Just be aware of possible air traffic, and use common sense. ( Don't fly it in the sea in front of JFK :P )http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fmcp/facilities/modelaircraftfields
The flying field looks really small from google maps though.
The other option in NYC is Floyd Bennet Field
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Bennett_Field
http://www.nps.gov/gate/planyourvisit/thingstodojamaciabay.htm
"Model Airplane Flying (Year - round, weather permitting)
Call 718-338-3799 for information on the Radio Controlled Flying Field at Floyd Bennett Field."
It looks like PARCS manages the runway.
http://www.flyparcs.com
I have not had a chance to follow up but afaik they require an AMA membership, which probably rules out autonomous flight. Let me know if you find out anything different.
Also its probably easier to get to Long Island than Floyd Bennet Field if you don't have a car.
I am mostly crashing indoors these days though.