NorthWest Electric Flyers
 

Do you fly in the Pacific Northwest?

As many know good flying fields in this area are hard to come by and by next summer we will loose the biggest one around at 60 Acres. I formed "NorthWest Electric Flyers" a month ago and we are already 30 members strong and growing daily. We are going for our AMA charter this month and hope it gives us more clout in finding a new electric flying field we can call home.

Sign up on the website is free and there are no dues to pay as we are only taking donations. The site will keep you informed about upcoming events and field BBQ's through our forums and updates. Please have a look around when you get a free moment.
http://www.nwef.org/

Thanks, Kosh President of NWEF

Good luck Kosh!

Finding and keeping flying fields can be difficult. I hope it works out well for you guys.

Have you treid the AMA field assistance program yet or are you waiting for your AMA charter?

Awesome Kosh, Good luck to you and your club, I wish you All the very best, Take care, Chellie

Kosh,

Flying out of Oak Harbor, WA!

Thought we would get our charter first then see what help we can get. Its my understanding that the local glider guys turned down a field as unsuitable to them but might be just fine for us.

Thanks all, Will keep you updated.

One of the clubs I belong to over in Port Orchard is also electric only. They made a deal with the local water company to use some of their land. There are no fees involved either but they have to do their own mowing etc if they want the field maintained and they have to provide their own porta potty. The main requirement was haveing insurance. They have a private insurance that isnt AMA and they have named the Water Co and city as covered or however that works.

The other club I belong to is a regular AMA chartered club and we operate on County Park land. Its undeveloped land the parks dept wasnt using anyway so we made a deal with them. We had to pay for all the improvements and we have to get permission to do most anything but its working out ok so far.

We are a little worried because some horse clubs and BMX bike clubs have their eye on this same piece of land.

Closed land fills are also a possibility or even open ones if they have a section set aside to age for a while. Its even possible to co-exist on a small airport if the set up is worked out.

One other possibility is unused farm/pasture land. A club in Shelton has a deal with a farmer to use one of his fallow pastures.

Good luck!

Thanks for the great tips Larry,

I was lucky enough to round up a attorney that fly's and already knows many of the people he will be dealing with so that's a big help. We don't need the field right now but come next spring our 35+ members will be hurting for sure. Before the summer is over I expect to have no less than 75 members with enough backing and clout to pull something off in the future.

90 members and still climbing :)

Count me in =)

~Jim

108 members and still growing strong, We now have a hand picked staff of 8 from some of the finest the Northwest has to offer for all aspects of electric flight. Our forums are busy and now open to the public without logging on.

SARG5 FROM KANSAS HERE
I am a long way from you guys and gals out there in WA state. I am in North Centeral Ks. My local RC club has had a problem keeping a flying field. So, I went out in my pasture 225 acers, found a level spot close to a good road. Started mowing the tall grass, got down to the 1inch. grass. Had to fill in a few [buffalo wallows], get rid of some goffers and their holes, put in a new gate, I off set the gate some 40 feet off of the roadway for safety.
We will not have a club. You can fly by invite only, and must be a member of AMA, current. I built 2 run up stands, put up a wind sock, There is no lock on the gate, all one has to do is drive up the road about 200 yeards and open another gate into the pasture. There have been a few problems in the past with some of the flyers, this caused them to loose their flying fields in the past. I am retired Army 1SG, Retired Kansas Highway Patrol Sgt. Know how to show a problem child where the gate is for the last time through. We are having to deal with what the cows leave behind, Everyone helps with the cow paddies, cutting the grass when I am gone. We are having a great time.
Of course , this is KANSAS, Do not have to deal with trees like you folks out west.
Have fun, go fly.
No key to get in.
Always open
Better not screw up.
SEEING AND FLYING THE COUNTRY WE DEFEND
SARG 5

Keep up the good fight and work Sarg, Its great to hear about a success like this.

Thank you very much KOSH for the kind words.
I gues it is like the old saying.
What about NO, do you not understand. I am having fun building the flying field. Just last evening. My cuz. was out with his Big John Deer tractor moving some dirt. Got him to fill a big bucket full, take it to my flying field and fill ABOUT the last Buffalo wollow. Took the complete bucket full to fill it. Sure saved me a lot of shoveling.
Thank you again
SEEING AND FLYING THE COUNTRY WE DEFEND
SARG5

Good Luck!
 

Hi kosh, long time, no talk!
Best of luck with the field, hope you get a permanent site soon. I think you're on the right track by getting an AMA charter, this is a nice club to have in your bag when the talk turns to insurance, liability, backing and accountability.
Even though we later lost our site (through no fault of our own) the charter opened a lot of doors for the Rocky Mountain Electric Flyers. We started out in a similar manner, lots of flyers, plenty of enthusiasm and no field. But with some hard work we got one, a pretty good site at that. Kept it for 3 years, electric only and grew by leaps and bounds. The developers and renegade flyers eventually won out. But we joined a much larger club, Arvada Associated Modelers, and are going strong.
Glad to see you're heading this up, you're the right guy for the job!
Ron

Thanks Ron,

This has been keeping me fairly busy with emails, phone calls and meetings but has been worth every second of my time. There will be a light at the end of the tunnel some day soon and thanks for all the support here.

http://www.nwef.org/

Kosh

In 8 months time I have pulled together over 160 members already with more signing on each week. No one was more amazed by this than me at the numbers and support our club has gotten from our members.

Next week I have meetings with the County and they plan to show me at least 4 fields that we could use for electric only flight. If all goes well we could have our new field by next spring.

Thanks for all the support, Kosh

That's great news Kosh, congratulations.

Well done Kosh!

Thats a lot more work than most people would think.

Wow Kosh, that's a fantastic turnout for you and hopefully they will come through with the field commitment.

Thanks Don, I really owe all this to you for getting me started as a Mod here and believing I could handle the job. Some day I would love to came back as a Mod here but only when I have enough time to give this site a worthy amount of time needed. Thanks for all you do here, Kosh

Great News!
 

Hi Kosh,
That's very good news, hoping for the best for your club!
Ron.

Today I reached 200 local members and last Saturday we pulled off the biggest electric event the Northwest has ever seen with over 400 planes on the field. This was a free event to anyone that showed up and we provided food to over 400 people. This event went great with a dozen planes in the air for over 10 hours and only one midair that both survived. Our raffle raised $700 plus more was donated outright and we still have no club dues.

Have a look at some of the photos that are coming in from it.
http://www.nwef.org/forum/view-postl...res-and-videos

We are in final negotiations for our new field and all is going well.

Great Fly-In!
 

Hey, Kosh, that looks like a great event! Lots of planes, some cool flight shots, kids, food, everybody. Seems like you did a fine job pulling it all together. Best of luck with the field.
Ron

Thanks Ron, It will be worth all the effort I put into it when we get this new field. Next year I'm shooting for 600 planes on the field at our fly-in and bet we can do it.

Well done Kosh!!!

I know first hand that's one heck of a lot of work pulling something like that off!!

I have just one small complaint though - why the heck didnt you advertise it here on WattFlyer??? Or did I miss it somehow? I didnt see anything in the AMA district schedule either.

I would have loved to come out and check it out but I had no idea you were putting this on.

Next year, be sure to let us know :)