Membership

2007 Members who would like to renew their membership for 2008 click here.

We are always keen to talk to people who are interested in taking up this interesting and fulfilling hobby. If you would like to find out more please visit us at the flying site on a weekend, or contact the Club Secretary for more information.

For a 2008 membership application form please click here. Our membership year runs from January to December, with a reduction in fees for people joining after September 1st. There is a one off joining fee of £10 applicable to all new members.

Club membership fees for 2008 are as follows:

BMFA insurance is mandatory to fly with us at Upton Court Park - for details and rates for 2008 please see our application form.

If you have not yet purchased your radio equipment, or you fly on more than one channel, we recommend you check out the following link which shows current member channel Usage.

Training

The club is committed to introducing new people to this rewarding hobby. Encouraging new members in their quest to learn to fly safely is our primary consideration and we have a number of flight instructors to assist members in improving their skills.

Our method for teaching beginners follows the guidelines laid out it in the BMFA 'UP and Away' training manual (download here) and we strongly advise all learners to download and have a copy of this document to hand throughout their training period. This not only ensures a structured training program, but also helps to ingrain good habits and safe flying from day one!

Beginners are taught initially using there own equipment via the 'Buddy Box System' (their transmitter linked to instructors who has overall control – see photo left), which we have found to be the most progressive method. Please note, although we as a club do not endorse any particular brand of radio equipment, the 'Buddy Box System' only allows connection between transmitters of the same manufacturer and at present the majority of our instructors use Futaba equipment.

An excellent source of reference if you are considering starting out in this exciting hobby is the BMFA beginner’s page. Check it out here.

We invite potential members to visit our patch at any time (within our flying hours – details here) to get a general feel of how we operate and ask any questions. This provides an excellent opportunity to discuss any equipment related issues.

Once accomplished, club members are encouraged to progress through the BMFA Achievement Schemes for which our club examiners are able to test candidates at the various levels. Please visit our forum for further info.