Call for input

[Chefinthesky]

Alright folks, this is something that will require plenty of collective input and objective/subjective opinions. Several years back I inadvertently got into the world of real estate. I never meant for it to happen, but it happened through a few good opportunities and some self discipline. So now I am looking into buying another piece of property but instead of buying a home and renting it out I want to explore something different. I want to open - drum roll please - a drone park.

I have a couple of friends who are lawyers who specialize in real estate law, etc. and I am going to bounce the the idea off of them, so with time the legal/liability aspect will be covered, but I want to fully develop the operational end before I start looking at plots of land. The premise is simple: I often find myself wishing I had somewhere I could go and fly my drones without many restrictions or interruptions. Whether it's wanting to blow off some steam or practice with a new drone, or maybe figure out a new drone and its features, etc. or even a place to tweak and tune my cameras etc., I often encounter the same obstacle. Ideally it would be a big plot of land that is easily accessible and the whole area can be walked easily. Certain things - altitude, proximity etc. would be the operator's responsibility and i would assume no liability for it - and it could even be a paid membership or membership based park if the potential was there. I just really like the idea of having a common place that I could go to any time I want to fly my drones. There would be rules - just like the signs out by a hotel pool etc. but I don't see why it would be too difficult with the right input. It could even be a 'typical' park with an area specifically set aside for drones - with staging areas, measured distance and altitude markers to a certain point and a free source of FAA 107 resources. On paper it could be a relatively low-cost startup venture that could generate some decent capital over the long run.

So great minds of the forum... fire away.

 

[AeroJ]

I can't decide if I like that idea or not

There are definitely good points to it, and for certain types of UAV guys (the racers and inner city people mainly) a club / park type thing might be very much appreciated. But I am the 'other' type of UAV pilot, who is all about the camera work, and if I think about it, most of the time I would prefer that there were no other drones in the area I am trying to fly. If there are, I have to watch them AS WELL as everything else ! Things get exponentially more risky and dangerous the more UAVs fly at once, even in a fairly wide space. Also, I think by the very nature of my video missions I want to fly in a different place every time, although I do say that with the luxury of a vast area of local heathland behind me to call a 'home ground' where I do fly quite regularly...

I guess you'd also have to make sure it was a fair way away from any surrounding neighbours - there might be a lot of noise on race days etc, and you don't want to be having constant ongoing battles......

Good luck though - I wish you every success...

 

[Chefinthesky]

[QUOTE and for certain types of UAV guys [/QUOTE]

I was scheming on a netted & fenced obstacle course for the racer drones. Basically a 'hellion basket'...

 

[AeroJ]

[QUOTE and for certain types of UAV guys

I was scheming on a netted & fenced obstacle course for the racer drones. Basically a 'hellion basket'...[/QUOTE]
Please do call it that, and make signs accordingly And how much are flame-throwers ?

 

[jandjfrench]

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
Gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
Can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in

 

[WTFDproject]

I can give some observed history. The county I live in established a park dedicated solely for the use of RC aircraft. I used it a lot for a couple years. Only ONCE did I see anyone else there. And they mentioned that they come there because no one else is ever around. This park is only a few minutes from the largest city in the county, and there are lots of drone owners in the countryside around, but is almost never used by drone pilots. There is a weekly usage by the fixed wing folks on Sundays. If not for them, I doubt if the park would remain open. Usage is so low that I had to go to the county office and get a key to the place because they don't even bother to open the gates anymore. Even I quit using it, after I exhausted all the "new" I could find in it.
One other thing to consider. Low usage not withstanding, the lady at the county office asked me to avoid one side of the park, because of a seriously complaining property owner on the adjacent land.
This is only one experience, from a small corner of the world, but I thought I would offer it for your consideration.

 

[PatR]

The FPV racers would be the most likely to use a drone park. The consumer drone types know they can launch from anywhere and go looking for new scenic opportunities. They might visit the park once or twice but that would be it for them. A park would be too structured snd not offer the photo opportunities they continually seek. In essence they are thrill seekers that avoid any thrills. Your plan is a great way to lose money very quickly.

Another aspect of owning a drone park is what it would do to your interest in the activities. I can almost assure you that in a very short period of time you would lose interest in drones. I went from having a long history in RC modeling and turned it into a career in UAV’s. It took but 3 years to lose almost all interest in the RC side due to the constant association with UAV aircraft. RC and UAV’s share a lot of common ground. We might call the condition one of over saturation.

Think hard before you act but good luck with the path you finally take.

 

[biltno]

I agree with PatR
Racers are likely to frequent something along those lines. The majority of users I would imagine, like to fly in different places to capture video. Not sure they would keep returning to the same place.

 

[PatR]

If the park was located on a nude beach there would more that would repeatedly frequent the park. Just close for the winter months unless it’s located on the equator.

 

[Ty Pilot]

I recently found there was a very obscure RC flying club located minutes from my home. When I did some searching, I found it was an AMA club but had little information. I tracked down the President of the club after some conversation found it was an electrics Only RC club . . . . with 7 members! The club was not very active and I learned that our President feared the club would fold as he was moving out of state. Long story short, I am; in just six days, going to be the President of the Oviedo Model Airplane (and Drone) Club. As this was the only chance of having a large open space that I can fly freely and unobstructed, I jumped into the role to have a place to fly.

That said. . . .

I agree with what @PatR said above in regards to being careful not to turn your hobby into a career, it will eventually burn you down. Another thing to consider is the politics that comes with any AMA club. I was also President of a very large AMA club in Palm Beach and swore I would never do it again. If I was going to do it from scratch and had the opportunity to own the land where these activities were to take place, I would not start out as an AMA club but rather would run it like a business. Those who have been members of AMA clubs know what the pitfalls of that type of structure are.

One thing I would stress is that many of the people that would want to join such a club will have little experience if any at all in control RC flight. Many will not understand why rules are in place and why they should be followed. Take a look at any drone forum. To avoid this I would build a solid rules structure and make sure you have a selected membership in the beginning as role models for newbs.

Oh and build it down in Central Florida - those poor guys need somewhere nice to fly that isn't a swamp.