Club Rules
Update 10th of January 2025
1.
As a BMFA affiliated Club it is all members must be familiar with and adhere to the BMFA Code of
Practice and General Safety Rules.
Below is a list of local rules: -
Flying times for I/C powered models:
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 10:00hrs – 19:00hrs: A maximum of two I/C models are allowed in the
in the air at any one time on these days and only during specified hours.
Saturdays and Alternate Sundays* & Bank Holiday Mondays 10:00hrs – 16:00hrs: A maximum of four I/C
models are allowed in the in the air at any one time on these days and only during specified hours.
Tuesdays and Thursdays: No, I/C model are allowed to fly on these days.
Under no circumstances must an I/C powered model be flow outside these times.
*Alternate Sundays will be agreed with the Council prior to the commencement of the New Year. These
dates will be published in the Club Newsletter and the Club Notice Board in the Port-a-cabin.
Club Phone
The first person on site should turn on the club phone and check its charge, and charge, as necessary.
Number of models allowed in the air
A maximum of four models are allowed in the air at any one time and on any day of the week; under no
circumstances is this number to be exceeded.
Under no circumstances must the number of I/C models flying on any specific day exceed the number
allowed for that day; the rest of models in the air are to be made up of electric or silent flight.
Weekday flying
When flying in the weekdays between the hours of 09:00 and 17:00 and before flying begins RAF
Shawbury Ops must be contacted by phone to let them know model flying will be taking place at RAF
Peplow.
When calling RAF Shawbury, you must use the club supplied phone which is to be found in the left hand
draw in the port a cabin, the number, the number and extension to call is: 01939 250351 Ext 7163, which is
also on display in the port a cabin and in the phones memory.
Electric powered models:
There are no time restrictions on the flying of electric models or gliders, but it must be remembered that
they do contribute to the total number of models allowed in the sky at any one time.
At the end of any powered flying session all I/C powered models are to be dismantled and stowed in the
members’ vehicles.
2.
The first Adult Member in attendance will normally take over the mantle of Responsible Member. Shouldthe Responsible Member leave the site before the end of the flying session he / she is to hand over theduty to one of the remaining Adult Members. Anyone attending the site is to sign in the attendance book,whether flying or not.If a member intends to fly, I/C up to the end of the day and then carry on flying silent flight he or she is tosign out of the attendance book and then sign back in as a silent flyer.
3.
Junior Members (Under 16 years of age) must be accompanied by their parent or legal guardian when
visiting the site.
3a.
Junior members are to be the sole responsibility of their accompanying parent or legal guardian who
will held responsible not only for their child’s safety but also for any actions that are against club rules or the
air navigation order and to be mindful of the safety of other member persons and property.
4.
The Club uses a peg board frequency control system. No transmitter on 35 MHz or 27 MHz is to be
switched on without first securing the correct frequency peg/tag.
Operators of 2.4 GHz radio systems do not need to use the pegboard system.
5.
All flying is to take place immediately in front of the pilots’ box. The only exception to this rule being
thermal gliders that can fly in any airspace at altitude, Electric models and gliders without an undercarriage
can fly to the side and behind the pilot’s box when landing on the grassed area but not towards the
pits/pilot’s box/car park areas. The hand launching and landing of models without an undercarriage is to be
clearly communicated to flyers already in the air.
Hand launches are to take place in front of the pilot’s box over the field or from the designated areas only.
6.
Landing in the field directly opposite the pilots’ box is to be avoided if possible.
7.
The wind direction of the day will dictate the direction of the circuits to be flown. Any deviation from this is
to be with the unanimous agreement of the flyers in that slot.
All take offs are to start from the most upwind line marked on the runway. Only one aircraft is to be on the
runway in preparation for take off at any given time. Queuing on the runway is forbidden.
8.
The accepted standard of competence for solo flight is the BMFA ‘A’ certificate.
Anyone joining the Club who is capable of flying solo but has yet to achieve ‘A’ certification can fly providing
they have a club member who flies the same mode and who holds an A/B/C or E certificate stood beside
them at all times during the flight and available to take control if a problem should occur.
9.
All training is to be conducted by Club Instructors with the use of a buddy lead. A Club Instructor is one
who is deemed as being competent by the Club examiner and who has been registered with the BMFA.
10.
All I/C powered models are to pass the BMFA Noise Test before being allowed to fly. There are no
exceptions to this rule. The Committee reserve the right to retest any model at any time.
11.
During start up all I/C models must be secured by a restraining device.
Junior Members (Under 16) are not to start engines. Any prolonged engine running such as ‘running in’ is
to be conducted on the grassed area to the right of the Port-a-cabin.
Operators of electric models are to ensure that such models are restrained during the arming phase of
preparation; electric models are not to be left armed, unattended, or unrestrained
12.
First Person View (FPV) Flying, Fixed Wing and Multi-Rotor
a) N&DMFC allows the operation of these models under the specific proviso that the operators adhere
strictly to the BMFA / CAA rules and regulations, in particular the requirements for a spotter and line
of sight operation (under no circumstances are these models to be operated out of line of sight or
outside the confines of the airfield).
b) Fixed wing FPV models are only to be flown from the normal fixed wing flight-line and are to fly the
same flight pattern as other fixed wing models unless specific permission has been sought from all
the other fliers in the same slot.
c) Multi-rotor models, whether FPV or not, can be flown from the normal flight-line (in accordance with
para 12b above) and the site at the south of the portacabin. At no time is it allowed to overfly the
pits or the car parking area. Multi-rotor models flown from the area south of the port-a-cabin will not
count towards the totals as described at para 1.
d) The operators of any model fitted with a camera or video recording device are to be particularly careful not to invade the privacy of others.
13.
It is the responsibility of every member to ensure that the site is kept in a clean and tidy state.
The last member to leave the site is to: -
a) Ensure that the site is free from litter.
b) The Port-a-cabin is locked up including the port-a-cabin rear door.
c) Secure the access gate. The combination lock on the access gate is to be to be scrambled after locking.
d) Ensure that all appliances are switched off, including the charging power supply, port-a-cabin lights and gas heater.
e) Turn off club phone and store in left hand draw in the port a cabin
14.
Members are not to engage in confrontations with members of the public and instead should report any
such incidents or potential incidents to the committee without delay
15.
Care should be taken when visiting another flyer’s pit area to prevent any damage that could be caused
to their models and equipment. While visiting a pit area you must keep clear of all moving propellers and to
be aware that a dormant electric model motor could start running without warning
16.
All members and guests on site should take great care of moving props while on site. Members with
children should be extra vigilant in this regard.
17.
Members will be solely responsible for the actions and safely of there guests while they are on site.
Guests will not be aware of the club rules on safety on site and it is your responsibility to inform them
18.
All members should act in a way that ensures the safety of all site users. This includes passers by and
riders as well as your fellow members.