Author Topic: How many people in the U.S fly control line? (Read 1675 times)

frank mccune · « **on:** July 13, 2021, 07:48:59 AM »

Hi All:

This question arose today and the number 500 was offered. What are your thoughts?

Tia,

Frank McCune

Joe Gilbert · « **Reply #1 on:** July 13, 2021, 08:20:15 AM »

Way more I think . It would be interesting to know how many different people have ordered from Brodaks and the cottage folks. I think there are way more people that fly for fun that folks that go to contest.

Dave_Trible · « **Reply #2 on:** July 13, 2021, 08:24:15 AM »

That might be hard to know for sure. Long term PAMPA books show 999 members over time with about 300 paid active members currently. There are the other disciplines, combat, racing, carrier, speed and scale which combined likely equal the stunt number. What we can’t know are those sport fliers who have no group affiliation nor attend contests. I can only guess that would double our number.

Dave

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #3 on:** July 13, 2021, 08:24:15 AM »

Brodak has sold several thousand electric CL timers. Allowing that most folks have more than one airplane at a time, and allowing that electrics do not yet represent the majority of CL flyers, I think the number is much higher than 500 CL Flyers.

Brad LaPointe · « **Reply #4 on:** July 13, 2021, 08:51:15 AM »

With over 5000 registered members on this site 500 seems very low . Yes a lot of us are from other jurisdictions but that is offset by the hordes that don’t belong to Sparky’s temple of control line .

Brad

Tim Wescott · « **Reply #5 on:** July 13, 2021, 08:59:05 AM »

5000 / 300,000,000 -- we could up this ratio.

(5000 on this site, 300,000,000 is roughly the population of the US -- probably more, I haven't checked for a while).

Dave_Trible · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2021, 09:32:35 AM »

Not sure I’d put much into that 5000 number. Very many are foreign followers and I know from the PAMPA site- company IT designers looking to sell ‘upgrades’, and likely data miners...

Dave

Brett Buck · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2021, 10:01:58 AM »

Quote from: frank mccune on July 13, 2021, 07:48:59 AM

This question arose today and the number 500 was offered. What are your thoughts?

Regularly flying? More than 500, less than 5000. We probably have 300ish regular fliers in District 10 alone, maybe 1000-1200 total including casual fliers.

Brett

Peter in Fairfax, VA · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2021, 11:18:17 AM »

facebook groups have thousands of members, as well.

FLOYD CARTER · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2021, 12:03:38 PM »

Probably many more than quoted. Consider the many thousands who bought and flew those Cox RTF plastic models when they were popular. So many were introduced to C/L flying by those inexpensive planes.

Dennis Leonhardi · « **Reply #10 on:** July 13, 2021, 01:33:10 PM »

Quote from: Joe Gilbert on July 13, 2021, 08:20:15 AM

Way more I think . It would be interesting to know how many different people have ordered from Brodaks and the cottage folks. I think there are way more people that fly for fun that folks that go to contest.

I know several active flyers who aren't on this forum.

And - as I've said many times - I've been selling on eBay for more than 20 years and know there are many buyers who seem to have absolutely no interest in connecting with other flyers, clubs, or even attending contests.

As an example: I've probably sold at least 10-12 sets of plans for .35 size models to a buyer in an area I know well. I've referred him to several friendly and helpful individuals, a good club, and the semi-annual contests at Huntersville. He just continues to purchase plans ...

I really believe competitive flyers are a very small portion of the total.

Mike Griffin · « **Reply #11 on:** July 13, 2021, 08:27:12 PM »

I tend to agree with Dennis. The majority of CL modelers do not fly competitively. We have 20 members in our club here in New Orleans and Allan Perret was the only member who flew in contests and I dont think any of us belong to AMA. I did at one time but got out several years ago. New Orleans probably has around 300,000 people now (lost a lot of population after Katrina) and there are only 20 of us out that number that fly. We have made public relations attempts to attract new flyers but with little to no success.

My guess for total active CL flyers in the country would be around 2000 but I dont know how anyone would know the real number.

Mike

Windwalker · « **Reply #12 on:** July 13, 2021, 10:24:51 PM »

I live in Anderson County, Texas, pop. ~ 20,000.. An East Texas county about 125 miles south east of the Dallas metroplex.. So far as I know, and I have searched and researched, I'm the only only one in the county that flies control line, sport or otherwise...

Nick

Dave_Trible · « **Reply #13 on:** July 14, 2021, 06:31:03 AM »

Quote from: Windwalker on July 13, 2021, 10:24:51 PM

I live in Anderson County, Texas, pop. ~ 20,000.. An East Texas county about 125 miles south east of the Dallas metroplex.. So far as I know, and I have searched and researched, I'm the only only one in the county that flies control line, sport or otherwise...

Nick

Here in the KC metro we once had FOUR active CL clubs. Now there are three of us I know about. I know there are concentrations of fliers on both coasts and in the south. There are central states where I've seen little evidence of ANY CL folks active.

Dave

Matt Colan · « **Reply #14 on:** July 14, 2021, 06:58:45 AM »

Quote from: Windwalker on July 13, 2021, 10:24:51 PM

I live in Anderson County, Texas, pop. ~ 20,000.. An East Texas county about 125 miles south east of the Dallas metroplex.. So far as I know, and I have searched and researched, I'm the only only one in the county that flies control line, sport or otherwise...

Nick

I’m in Longview and I have the same issue. I’ve been flying with the guys in Dallas for the last couple years and I enjoy it a lot! But it gets expensive and its all day affair. I’ve wanted to find somewhere closer to fly in case I want to test something or it’s a nice day, but I haven’t found a good spot yet…not that I’ve looked very hard either

Tim Wescott · « **Reply #15 on:** July 14, 2021, 11:31:58 AM »

Quote from: Tim Wescott on July 13, 2021, 08:59:05 AM

5000 / 300,000,000 -- we could up this ratio.

(5000 on this site, 300,000,000 is roughly the population of the US -- probably more, I haven't checked for a while).

Sorry -- it's a habit I have from my day job. If I do a rash overestimate and I still get a teeny number, then the number is teeny, no need to do more research until you need to know how teeny.

Ditto (not the case here) if I do a rash underestimate and the number is too big, then you already know that, with further research, the number will still be too big.

It saves on hair-splitting discussion.

mike londke · « **Reply #16 on:** July 14, 2021, 01:50:24 PM »

Quote from: frank mccune on July 13, 2021, 07:48:59 AM

Hi All:

This question arose today and the number 500 was offered. What are your thoughts?

Tia,

Frank McCune

I think the number is waaayyy higher. As an Admin on a FB Group for CL that has over 5,000 members I can tell you that we have hundreds of guys in the US that fly CL weekly. Guys getting their kids/grandkids in the hobby. Guys dusting off their old ringmasters with Foxes/McCoys. Guys asking for suppliers and where people are flying. From the daily post count and the number of flying videos and build pics that are posted I'd say CL is alive and well. IMO there are more guys just out there banging around than there are competing. While we encourage all of them to attend a contest some are just content to fun fly and have no interest in competition.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #17 on:** July 14, 2021, 03:41:41 PM »

Well, I don't know about anywhere else, but last Saturday there were about 16 of us flying. We had a Half-A Event. Here are the rules: the plane has to be powered by an engine from .010 to .10. Awards for Pilot's Choice (most beautiful or appealing or whatever...), Most Flights, and Wackiest Flight and/or Most Stupendous Crash.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2021, 03:53:37 PM »

Here is the requisite "group shot" proving beyond all doubt that there are at least 16 people in the nation who fly CL.

peabody · « **Reply #19 on:** July 14, 2021, 04:16:21 PM »

I know that when PAMPA had 2000 members, Brodak had 8000 more addresses in his customer list

Tim Wescott · « **Reply #20 on:** July 14, 2021, 05:22:47 PM »

Quote from: mike londke on July 14, 2021, 01:50:24 PM

I think the number is waaayyy higher. As an Admin on a FB Group for CL that has over 5,000 members I can tell you that we have hundreds of guys in the US that fly CL weekly. Guys getting their kids/grandkids in the hobby. Guys dusting off their old ringmasters with Foxes/McCoys. Guys asking for suppliers and where people are flying. From the daily post count and the number of flying videos and build pics that are posted I'd say CL is alive and well. IMO there are more guys just out there banging around than there are competing. While we encourage all of them to attend a contest some are just content to fun fly and have no interest in competition.

I think people who compete forget just how many folks there are that just like to play around at this stuff. For every SCCA racer there's a hundred guys with modded cars, etc.

CL may have a higher ratio of competitors to sport pilots than RC, but there's still a lot of folk that just aren't into contesting.

Peter in Fairfax, VA · « **Reply #21 on:** July 15, 2021, 09:07:09 AM »

Perhaps as a result of this thread, I'm seeing "alive and well" posts like the one shown below.