Flying Site Closures

In a perfect world we’d like to have our flying site open 365 days a year so our members can enjoy their hobby/sport every day. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. From time to time we must close the field for an event, bad weather or other reasons. We’ll try to cover each below.

Events

We try not to close the field for events but sometimes it’s necessary. Since all events are voted on by the membership these closures are expected and have been pre-approved. We make every effort not to schedule two events back-to-back so that the field is not closed two weekends in a row. The events that we close the field for are listed below:

·    National Events such as F3B and F3J contest or team trials. These events require more unrestricted space than our normal glider contest.

·    Big Bird only requires the closure of our main runway and Heli/Park Flyer areas. The Glider and Control line area remain open.

·    Space Coast Aero Tow requires all areas be closed except for the control line area.

Other events in the future may require full or partial closure the field but every effort will be made to maximize the enjoyment and minimize the inconvenience for our members.

Weather

Our least favorite reason for closing the field is due to weather and the flooding that may occur afterwards. Of course we all know that if it’s raining or the wind is blowing 30 mph’s none of us would be foolish enough to go out to fly. Unfortunately, here in central Florida when it rains a lots, we have flooding problems. This of course has affected the use of our current, our past and probably our future flying sites. We will try to explain why we have this problem at our current field even though it has a drainage system built in.

The drainage system installed at our field is called a French Drain System. The drainage pipes are buried approximately 3’ deep, are spaced approximately 200’ apart and run east to west. Each end drains into the ditch which surrounds our field. The ditch is tied into the St. Johns River Water Management System.

Since the water level in the ditch is tied to the St. Johns River, when it rains in Brevard county it raises the water table in the St. Johns River, thus raising the water level in the ditch. When the water level in the ditch reaches a level which is higher than the drain outlets in the ditch, then our field stops draining. So until the water recedes, the least amount of rain at the field will cause standing water on the field.

Even though the water level on the field after flooding may be low, the ground is still very soft and easily damaged by driving on it. We want to get the members back to flying as soon as possible but we must also protect the field, pits and parking, from damage which could be costly and time consuming.

Of course the main months we have to put up with this is from June through mid-October, our rainy season. The average numbers of days the field is closed annually, over the last 8 years, due to flooding is 21. Lucky for us that’s much better than the 3 to 4 months the folks up north are down due to snow!

Flying Site closure process due to Flooding (Club approved 02-20-2019)

Due to the design of the drainage system at the 524-flying site, if we get a lot of rain in one day or over multiple days we can be in a situation where we must close the field due to standing water or the ground being saturated and soft. In the future we will use the following guide lines to close the field should this happen again.

Allen Hinton has volunteered to be the point of contact and judge the condition of the field. If we should have a large amount of standing water on the field or the ground is saturated and too soft to be driven on and Allen determines that it would be in the club’s best interest to close the field, then the field will be closed. Just being able to drive around the standing water does not justify opening the field and a fixed set of criteria will not fit every case. The decision must be made by someone physically inspecting the field who considers the club’s interests in preserving the integrity of the parking area and entry road. This most often will be a judgment call and must be respected by the membership.

Allen will report the condition of the field to the Club Field Manager who will then make the determination on whether to close the field or not. If it is determined that the field should be closed, the Club Field Manager will send an email notifying all club members and will notify the scale house so that anyone not getting the message will be turned away at the gate. Allen will continue to report the field status until it dries enough for us to resume flying. If you are not sure if the field is open or closed after a lot of rain and you have not received an email, you can contact any of the club’s officers or the 524-scale house at (321) 633-1892.

Sneaking in to fly while the field is CLOSED will be considered an action detrimental to the club and will be dealt with accordingly.

Other

Under our agreement with the county, they have the right close our field down should they have to use our area for some reason. This could be for hurricane debris storage, etc.

Alternate Flying Sites

As the saying goes, “When one door closes another one opens.”. So when the 524 field is closed due to flooding, we still have alternatives. Listed below are other sites you can go to fly, until our main site reopens.

1.   IRKS flying site #2, Valkaria Airport. To use this site, you must first contact Tom Bogut, 321-729-6682 or tbogut@aol.com, so he can give you a field site briefing and checkout. The locked site entrance is located on Valkaria Road, GPS Coordinates 27.964082, -80.551386.

2.   The Compound in Palm Bay. This is located on Sapodilla Road Southwest, Palm Bay, GPS Coordinates 27.931050, -80.705628.

3.   County Parks – There are numerous county parks where modelers currently fly. Although most are only suitable for park flyers, at least you can still fly. Your AMA insurance will cover you, so make sure you follow AMA safety rules and contact any local airports within 5 miles of where you are flying. The B4UFLY Smartphone App from the FAA can help you with this.