After a long time I went o Sholavaram  leaving the  usual Quite peaceful scerene Kovalam.

Flying at Sholavaram  was a nightmare :
1) Ground traffic was astounding  with a cars, truck,Bikers and the Speed  and wheelie bikers to add to the fun. It was Kamikaze flying as well as ground traffic.
2) two crashes on frequency interference
3) a couple of houses coming up under the normaL circuit area.
4) a couple of near misses between ground traffic and models.

Hence in my opinion you had  to be down right lucky to come back without loosing a model. Skill was not a major insurance it is plain luck..

This got me thinking :
FLYING AT SHOLAVARAM IS JUST AN ACCIDENT AWAY FROM  AN OFFICIAL BAN ON AERO MODELING IN TAMILNADU    
 
  
THE LOGIC BEHIND THIS THOUGHT IS :
1) METHANOL IS BANNED IN T.N. : Hence any serious accident involving a third party  will lead to an investigation  and the FUEL will be a serious disadvantage for the modeler  concerned in particularand AERO Modeling in general  
2) Most plane flying are fast ones hence any direct hit to either the houses or the public could be potentially lethal.
3) Frequency interference takes this control option out of the flyers hands.

I think those flying at Sholavaram have to consider the long term impact on aero modeling especially if GOD forbid there is a serious mishap.
Just to add  a few observations of yesterday :

1) 2 flyers lost contact with the models  due to freq. interference : how could this be avoided other than 2.4 G change over and its not that 2.4 g is without issues
2) One case of a dead stick landing , truck ( water tanker ) coming in the opposite direction  a Santro  going in the same direction as the plane , swerved to avoid truck and went in front of the Car , luckily both vehicles braked : what precaution can you take ?
3) One case of a modeler on a low level invert fly past suddenly realized there was a truck coming in the opposite direction.
4)A pattern ship  Landed and  suddenly found a high speed bikers coming in the opposite direction at top speed : swerved  towards the crowd  luckily the pilot was in control and managed without major damage to the model when  a person in the crowd  jumped up  and stepped on the fuse .

All this in a single flying secession of a couple of hours , wonder what precautions  could have been taken  to avoid these .

AGAIN THE PURPOSE IS TO GET A FEW MINDS THINKING ON THE LONG TERM IMPLICATION ON AERO MODELING IN CHENNAI

THE PURPOSE OF THIS POST IS  TO GET CONCERENED MODELERS THINKING ON THE IMPACT THEY MIGHT HAVE ON THIS GREAT HOBBY DUE TO THE ABOVE .
LETS NOT HAVE A BAN ON THIS GREAT HOBBY .

MIGHT SOUND PESSIMISTIC BUT THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS  AS AN INFREQUENT FLYER THERE , THOUGHT I WILL HIGHLIGHT IT HERE AS REGULAR FLYERS BY SHEER HABIT MIGHT OVER LOOK THESE FACTORS AS THEY MIGHT HAVE ADJUSTED  TO THE SITUATION. .
SAI

After reading this post - this can't be a flying field. With houses and vehicles all in one place. Can't flyers take turns flying to avoid frequency clashes? Surely, there must be at least a runway marked out for take off and landing - leave aside landing on or near ppl - for this to be called a flying field.

TG ,
This case is not frequency clash from other modelers it is freq. interference from other sources god knows what other transmission , it happens regularly of 72 mhz and sometimes on 40 mhz.

But as a person who went there after a long time I was shocked at the vehicular traffic , you have BIKERS doing wheelies at the landing approach end and speed bikers at the take off end , you fly in between.

sai

Wow!!.. so much action happening at Sholavarm!..

Frankly, Sholavaram is one of the best places to fly. It has a nice tarmac runway and it used to be a lot more calm with very less vehicular traffic. But now, things are changing due to developments around. The best time to fly at Sholavaram is at early mornings... about 6 to 8am. At this time you hardly see anyone at the field. But then, you said that there are houses comming up.. so, I guess its already high time for migration..

-Ismail

Early mornings are never a problem at sholavaram.. the hectic crowd starts after 9 am!! I used to fly between 6 and 9 and then leave.. but now with all the saturday night parties!! i land up at the field only at about 8am and fly till 12 noon!! so have learnt to negotiate a lot while flying.. but still it is accident prone!


That was me !!

Should find an alternative flying field.. and with my big gasser also coming up, I really need a nice field to fly with a tarmac runway if possible.  Lets see what we can come up with..

Chan

Wow, that sounds like a terrible idea/place to fly     Might as well not fly, as you cannot enjoy it with the constant fear of mishaps.

Yet another reason this hobby needs to be organized (initially at the local city level).

Chan ,
Precisely the reason for this post you regulars there have got used to the problem  this is what is dangerous.

Sai

Its very sad  time is running out for aero modelers at sholavaram. I fly on Sundays for relaxation , but get all worked up and tense when seeing a speeding lorry coming right at your model when your landing  on a dead stick. It has to be a lucky day to bring home a model without damage

Glad this discussion has at least got  a few aeromodelers thinking on this key issue.
Once we start thinking I dont think the solution is far away.
sai

Planning to visit Sholavaram this Sunday with my brother, if everything goes according to plan   A fellow flyer from Qatar (Mr Arun) has moved back to Chennai permanently, and he flies with his son at Sholavaram on all Sundays.  Will be visiting the field some time Sunday morning. 

Hopefully will get to meet some RC India members !

Anwar Bhai,

I would also like to join with you. Please do let me know your timings also. Hope I can meet with many RC folks there.

My cell no: +919790965379

Regards,
Dileep

Will call you once we get a better picture of our schedule.

Wanted to visit the RCPA field also... will do it another time.  This is not an RC focused trip, so coming with zero RC gear.

Anwar

Why not make a trip to Kovalam as well. We will be doing FPV there upto about 11.30am  to 12.00 noon starting from 7.30am. If you are coming just give a tinkle on my cell...
09841298831 or you can also call Sai. There might be some Heli flying as well by a new party

Saju

Hi Saju,

Thanks for info  . My cell is : +919790965379

Regards,
Dileep

Hi Anwar ,
welcome , if you cannot make it to Kovalam   as Saju requested we could meet  at our office ( same road as KFC Adyar  ).
Rgds
Sai

Came back from a 3 day trip to Chennai, and saw Sholavaram field.  Finally was able to put faces to names like Capt Manish, Col M Sundaram, Dileep Balan, Sai/rcforall and his son Venkat (visited his office).

The field is nice, but there seems to be quite a bit of other activity on the field.  So having a lookout is pretty much a must for landings.

The most interesting thing was that our host Mr Arun was using glow fuel from Mayura Chemicals for his heli, will start a separate thread on it.

Are people still flying in sholavram? i went there this Sunday and the local people said that is isn't happening atleast for a long time. dont know where people are flying now. any chennaities please respond.

Ashok.P

See my post on Pitts, this was on Sunday and at Sholavaram. In fact it's been very long time that no one has not flown at the field

Plane looks nice sir.

i came by around 1pm and found no sign of flying. not even some empty water bottles, cigarette packs, bits pieces. the field looked as if no one  came there for a while. i asked the ware house security and they said "people stopped coming for a long time". only a few bikers were there doing stunt.

Ashok.P

wrong place (end of the runway) and wrong time. With Chennai sun beating down 1300 Hrs is no time to be out in the sun. People fly from 0630 Hrs to may be around 1100 depending on the heat.