Land needed!

[Josh Kellogg]

I'm looking for a safe place to launch. I live in Millington, Tennessee. And the big struggle for me is finding a good safe launch site. The lay of the land, is trees, rivers, and swamps, and a big freaking base. Not exactly launch condusive. And public land is closed.

I've checked the stay at home order rules and we are allowed to go out as long as we stay six feet apart. I have all the ppe, masks, and gloves. and I was tested for covid and am negative. Still working due to being in the medical industry. Full transparency.

Is anyone with land open enough to launch willing to do so as long as we stay under the 6 person rule and other rules listed by local authorities? Or is at least willing to be open after all this blows over? I'm just desperate to launch.

Rockets I got: Estes hi-flyer xl, estes magician, estes multi-roc, estes goblin, estes epic II, estes Viking, estes swift 220, estes luna bug. (I am definitely an estes guy).

Though I have been checked out for corona, I understand any concern about keeping healthy and am more than willing to wait. I still need a good launch zone for when that time comes.

 

[Antares JS]

If you can't use public land, your best bet is probably going to be either talking to a neighbor with a big plot of land or finding the nearest club and waiting for them to resume launching.

 

[David Schwantz]

Playgrounds are closed here. But I still see people walking dogs, batting a ball at the diamond. They do not want lots of kids together and handling the jungle gym after one an other. I launch in a vacant field across from my house, in 15 years no one has cared. Also fly RC there. Mostly get people to watch. Now they just watch from their yards. Flew RC at a landfill that was reclaimed for years. Maybe you can find some thing like that near by.

 

[Josh Kellogg]

If you can't use public land, your best bet is probably going to be either talking to a neighbor with a big plot of land or finding the nearest club and waiting for them to resume launching.

Yeah I was trying to see if I could get someone out here because I know some of the land here is owned by older folks, and I didn't want to endanger them. But I want to try that when this all clears up. And launcher are all stopped for now.

 

[Josh Kellogg]

Playgrounds are closed here. But I still see people walking dogs, batting a ball at the diamond. They do not want lots of kids together and handling the jungle gym after one an other. I launch in a vacant field across from my house, in 15 years no one has cared. Also fly RC there. Mostly get people to watch. Now they just watch from their yards. Flew RC at a landfill that was reclaimed for years. Maybe you can find some thing like that near by.

Thats a good idea, I'll check that out. We have some landfills nearby.

 

[Cmac]

Have you tried Google Earth Pro?
I found my solution looking at aerial views of my local farm land and an online service called https://www.outdooraccess.com
It's a service similar to Air B&B for private land owners.
I'm now lucky enough to have a private facility larger than my club has access to.
My boys and I load up the rockets, drone, fishing poles, targets/guns and make a full day of it.

 

[Nytrunner]

Good tip, unfortunately everything listed down here in the south is woodland, so not great for rocketry

 

[Cmac]

so not great for rocketry

I wonder why you would bother with the hobby then if you have nowhere to shoot of rockets other than your club field a few months a year.
Try pulling up google earth pro and zoom in on open land. Knock on some doors and ask politely.
A copy of my NAR liability policy helped a lot.

 

[Nytrunner]

Hehe, we try every year. At least for HARA's locale, the open areas large enough to support high power flying are almost entirely owned by farmers of one sort or another that fear fire damage, and even the intro of NAR/Trip insurance doesn't mollify them. We're lucky to have built a working relationship with the landowner for our 12k' field. For low power, we have a couple areas that are large enough to support TARC practice and occasional personal flying, so we get by.

I can't answer for everyone, but for me there's a lot more than flying that makes the hobby worth it. Like serving as a club officer, doing outreach and education with school kids and teams, etc... plus the Hi-power off months often serve as build/painting season for more involved projects. Often after a launch day (prepping rockets, flying, hauling em back, cleaning, storing) I wont do anything rocket related for a week or so, and then I'll pick it up again when i feel like it.

 

[Cmac]

That's good. Hang in there.