We are still here but this year has been another difficult time for DMAC. The search for a new flying site continues but with no success so far. The search for a new flying site continues but with no success so far. The positive lead to the north of Dunfermline continues to be followed is ongoing but it is slow progress.
There has been very little flying all year as some of our free flight members have been hit with health issues. To compound the problems poor weather and the SAA free flight site in the Pentland Hills had its permission withdrawn which has put the lid on flying there. That said one of our members has managed to continue to hone his circle tow skills on a small field near Linlithgow.
Our Chairman has managed to do a little control line flying whilst visiting his brother in England. At home he had some success with his discus launch RC glider using a local field close to his home. Winco is not aware if our RC site had any airtime this year. The club has perpetual permission from the Carnegie Trust to fly models at the Pitreavie Sports fields but no CL flying has taken place again due to health issues.
Our Treasurer however has bucked the trend by continuing to top the charts at Indoor Flying meetings at Bathgate. See Forthcoming Events for the calendar of indoor meetings up to the end of the indoor flying season in April.
We have managed a number of social gatherings at a Supermarket cafe and our treasurer’s home. Much Coffee, Tea, Sustenance and blether was enjoyed by members and guests who had been invited to attend via the Contact page of this web site. That page continues to be monitored so please feel free to get in touch and you will get a response.
Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year and hopefully 2025 will be better!
Category Archives: Anouncements
We are back (again)!
2022 proved to be an extremely challenging year for the club with very little flying of Radio Controlled models at it’s Crossgates site. We are hoping for better luck in 2023.
Also we have not yet succeeded in finding a replacement for our Control Line site at Inverkeithing. That field was lost to a Dog Exercising Company which was extremely disappointing after 20 years of happy flying on the site and hundreds of hours of members work developing and maintaining it. Multiple leads have been followed but as yet unsuccessfully.
Our Free Flight members are now able to travel freely to the SAA site in the Pentland Hills. Unfortunately weather conditions have often been very poor particularly the wind strength probably due to Climate Change. As a result many events had to be cancelled at short notice. This years season starts at the end of February with a “blow the cobwebs away” day of Trimming and Testing of new and old faithful models.
Indoor flying at the SAA site in Bathgate has proved popular and is only mildly affected by the weather outside so no events have been cancelled.
See our Forthcoming Events 2023 page for the calendar of events up to the end of the indoor flying season in April.
During the Winter we have had a number of virtual club meetings on line so have been able to chew the fat on matters aeromodelling. Also a couple of face to face meetings in a local Supermarket Cafe have been enjoyed by a few of our retired members and it has been agreed to have some more.
Sadly we lost Bill Grieve during 2022. Bill was our oldest but very enthusiastic member and he is sadly missed. There was a good turnout from the club for the funeral and subsequent Wake where we reminisced over Bills Aeromodelling life and service to the club, thanks Bill.
Club flying was back in 2021 but then!
We have had several succesfull and enjoyable sesions of RC flying at our Crossgates site. A new member has started his training using a wireless Buddy system so social distancing has been easy to implement. We have also had a number of visitors from other clubs. A number of images of this activity have been added to the Gallery.
The FF members have also been able to use the SAA Pentland Hills site for Trimming and Training. Competition flying has restarted with the Scottish National Championship being flown Saturday 10th / Sunday 11th July with the excellent weather conditions being greatly appreciated.
Sadly CL flying has not restarted as the search for a replacement for the Inverkeithing site has not been succesful. So far 11 potential sites have been investigated but to no avail. The search continues.
british national championships
The BMFA have announced replacement contests for a cut down substitute Free Flight Nationals. These contests will be flown for their respective Nationals trophies and will be run to the standard gala format. Also the Control Line Team Race Championships are announced.
Free Flight Open classes – Salisbury Plain – August 28/29th Start 09:00 finish 18:00
Free Flight FAI – Salisbury Plain – September 4th/5th Start 09:00 finish 17:00
The BMFA Control Line Team Race National Championships will take place on the 4th & 5th September 2021 at the Barton Model Flying Club.
British national championships.
The BMFA have announced that both the Free Flight and the Radio/Control Line Power Nationals at Barkston Heath have both been cancelled again this year. This is a regret to our FF members who have competed and topped events over decades. It is so nice to compete on an airfield with runways on which you can use a bicycle for model recovery instead of yomping over the Newbigging moorland.
The BMFA Technical Committees and Specialist Bodies responsible for organising the various Championship competitions and the drone racing World Cup associated with the Nationals are now looking at alternative arrangements.
We are back!
We are pleased to announce that the club having got it’s COVID 19 mitigation measures in place is now able to resume flying Radio Controlled models at it’s Crossgates site. A number of images taken during check out of the COVID 19 meassures have been added to our Gallery.
Unfortunately we cannot say the same about Control Line models at Inverkeithing. This has come about due to the loss of that field to a Dog Exercising Company. This is extremely disappointing after 20 years of happy flying on the site and hundreds of hours of members work developing and maintaining it. An alternative site is being sort and a number of leads have been followed but as yet unsucessfully.
With the relaxation of travel restrictions within Scotland our Free Flight members are now able to travel to the SAA site in the Pentland Hills and are looking forward to Trimming/Training days. Competition flying is expected to restart in May after the lambing season.
During the Winter we have had a number of virtual club meetings on line so have been able to chew the fat on matters aeromodelling which makes a change from COVID 19.
covid 19
All 2020 events both indoor and outdoor have been suspended due to COVID 19. Club flying is also suspended until Spring 2021.
Some flying resumes.
Free Flight flying has resumed at the Scottish Aeromodelers Association Pentland Hills site with three outings for some low key trimming and training. There is no intention of resuming competions in the foreseeable future.
Two members being from the same household have been down to Inverkeithing on couple of occasions for some Control Line flying. Unfortunately the problems of mitigating COVID 19 risks for the rest of us have not gone away. A draft protocol for CL flying has been written which addresses the particular problems of this discipline where Social Distancing cannot be maintained at all times. This protocol has been submitted to the SAA as mitigation against COVID19 but there has not been any response as yet.
The SAA have themselves published a protocol for Radio Control flying so the club training aircraft is being fitted out with a wireless “Buddy Box” system which will enable us to fly the trainer with Instructor and Pupil socially distanced.
COVID 19
This Web Site went down a little while ago as a result of a software update, not an uncommon problem. Because you are reading this shows that it is now fixed and normal service is resumed.
Unfortunately we cannot say the same for club activity due to COVID 19 we have not been able to meet since March either at the Royal British Legion or at our various flying fields. However due to easing of restrictions in Scotland and guidence from the Scottish Aeromodelers Ascociation we are currently looking into ways of resuming flying at our Inverkeithing Control Line site. Sadly the opportunity to fly will not be available to our members from the Glasgow, Kirkcaldy and Cupar as they would have to travel greater distances than the 5 mile guidence from the Government. Similarly Free Flight flying will not be possible at the SAA Pentland Hills site due to the traveling distances involved. We look forward to the time when travel restrictions are eased.
In the meantime members have been creating virtual world beating airframes and imagining them performing under perfect flying conditions!
2020 forthcoming events
A Happy New Year to all our visitors. The calendar of events has been updated until May 2020 including our next club meeting.
This will be held 19:00 for 19:30 at the Royal British Legion, New Row, Dunfermline. KY12 7EF. Visitors welcome, plenty of FREE parking in the nearby Walmer Drive and Canmore Street Car Parks.