CONSTITUTION

 

1. The club shall be called the Ottawa Region Electric Organisation (OREO).

2. The club objective shall be to support the pursuit of R/C electric model aircraft flying as a hobby by enabling fellow enthusiasts to meet up and help each other get the most out of the hobby. To this end, throughout the year, members will organise and support flying meetings, and during winter months club members will organise and support indoor meetings for the exchange of tips and information related to the hobby. All activities will be conducted to ensure as far as possible the safe and responsible use of radio-controlled electric model aircraft. Support and encouragement to newcomers to the hobby, particularly young newcomers is an important club priority.

3. Membership shall be freely available for as long as possible and until such time as it becomes necessary to introduce an annual fee to cover expenses. Membership renewal is required at the end of each calendar year.

4. All flying members shall be members of the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada ( MAAC) and shall abide by all of its rules and regulations at all times. All flying members shall provide evidence of such membership on request, and shall display membership cards when at the flying field either on their person, flight box or car-dashboard.

5. All major club decisions will be reached by discussion of proposals and consensus amongst active members, and will be decided by a vote amongst those active members. (Active members are ones who have attended at least 3 winter indoor sessions and who have participated in and supported at least two club flying activities in the previous 12 month period.)

 

FIELD SAFETY RULES

 

1. All pilots must observe field discipline and comply with all MAAC safety codes and club rules. It is a shared responsibility of all club members to ensure these rules are applied and adhered to.

2. Only electrically propelled models shall be flown at OREO flying fields. All club related flying shall be done only at approved designated club flying fields where club members have permission to fly. A guest may only fly at an OREO field when accompanied by a member.

3. Only experienced qualified pilots with “wings” shall fly unassisted. It is the duty of all new pilots, and those pilots who are unable to guarantee that their aircraft will remain safely under control at all times, to ensure they are supervised and assisted by an experienced, qualified pilot. NOTE :Inexperienced pilots without “wings” are NOT permitted to fly unsupervised even if they happen to be at the field on their own.

4. Any OREO instructor has the right to request any pilot who is not flying in a safe and adequate manner to fly only with the direct assistance of an instructor until such time that a club instructor deems he is safe to fly unaided. (The club supports a training program for new pilots based on the MAAC wings program. Qualified experienced volunteers who will be pleased to assist are listed in the club instructor list on the club website.  OREO approved instructors will award "wings" to pilots they deem able to fly safely and competently without assistance. Passing the OREO wings program is one way for a new pilot to demonstrate he or she is an experienced and qualified pilot.)

5. An adequate frequency control method shall be employed at all flying fields* All pilots shall ensure their transmitters are labeled with the channel number for the frequency on which they are operating*. Before turning on their transmitters, pilots shall identify the channel they are about to use by placing a frequency control peg marked with their name and channel number on a Frequency Control Board. This ensures that not more than one person is using any particular channel at any moment in time. When not in use, transmitters shall be powered off, their antennas retracted and the corresponding peg shall be removed from the board. Use of a channel shall be restricted to 15 minutes if other pilots are waiting to use it.

* These frequency control regulations are not applicable to 2.4GHz transmitters. Thus 2.4GHz radio systems are not required to be labelled and pegged off..

6. A range and operation test shall be performed before a pilot makes a first flight of the day at the field. It is recommended that the range test shall be performed with the Tx antenna collapsed and with the motor running at half-throttle or less whilst watching for erratic or un-commanded control surface movement. It is recommended that the plane being range tested be carried along the flight line away from the corresponding transmitter, whilst the transmitter is operated at or near a designated pilot station. It is highly recommended that the direction and function of flight controls and fail-safe settings be checked as part of this test.

7. All fliers shall observe an established flight line and stand in the designated area whilst flying. The flight line shall be identified with temporary markers eg traffic cones, coloured cable or rope etc. It is the responsibility of all pilots to ensure that identified pilot stations are used and that flight line, pits and spectator limit are all marked. These may be marked by traffic cones, blocks of foam, or bean-bags etc. PILOT STATIONS SHALL LIE NO LESS THAN 10 METERS FROM THE FLIGHT LINE / FLYING AREA and shall be spaced at least 2 m apart. The first turn after take-off should always be made away from the flight line, pilots and spectators. Pilots shall never fly on the pilots’s and spectator's side of the flight line, over people, or over houses, vehicles and other property. Pilots must clearly and loudly announce their intentions for the benefit of other pilots. Eg "Launching", "Taking-off", "Landing", "Going on the Runway" & "Runway Clear" etc.

8. It is the responsibility of all club members to ensure that all spectators remain at least 40 m behind the designated flight-line and flying area, and also to ensure that all vehicles are parked at least 40 m away from the designated flying area. Members are also required to maintain a minimum distance of 13m from the flight line when working on their models both before and after flying.

9. In the event that a manned aircraft of any kind approaches the field then a MAAC rule requires all pilots to descend and land immediately. (Do NOT wait to see if the aircraft comes closer!)

10. When more than five pilots are present at the field, then either an agreed Tx impound shall be set up, or all unused Tx's shall be returned to the owner’s vehicle. People using channel selection modules shall take extreme care to only reset them after pegging-off the channel they wish to use. No more than five pilots shall be in the air at any one time.

11. All new or repaired models shall be "checked out" by a qualified experienced pilot before being flown. All models are subject to random safety spot-checks which may be carried out by any Instructor. If in an instructor’s opinion a model is unsafe to fly it shall not be flown at a club field until the problems are rectified.

12. Simultaneous fixed-wing and helicopter flying is not allowed. Helicopters may only be flown individually. Flying time-slots for helicopters will be mutually agreed between the pilots present at the time.

13. "Failsafe" settings used on PCM and spread spectrum transmitters shall set the motor off regardless of any other control operations governed by the "failsafe". Particular care must be taken when swapping from FM (ie PPM) to PCM to ensure that the "failsafe" is correctly programmed.

14. All pre-1991 radio-control equipment including wide-band transmitters is not allowed at OREO flying fields.

16. All voice and data communication equipment including cellular telephones is banned within 50 feet of the flight line. (This means 'phones etc shall not be carried on one’s person on the field). It is recommended all members, guests and spectators should leave cellular phones etc in their vehicles.) First Person View (FPV) and flight telemetry equipment is allowed.

17. No dogs or other pets are allowed at the flying field or in any OREO meeting. All persons under the age of 12 shall be accompanied and closely supervised by a responsible adult all of the time. (A person responsible for a child shall not fly except as part of providing instruction to that child.)