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Now and Then in the SCV | Commentary by Darryl Manzer
| Wednesday, Jul 30, 2014

mug_darrylmanzer2Many, many years ago when Placerita Junior High still had classrooms that at least smelled new – because they almost were new – there was a teacher who owned some radio-controlled model airplanes. A bunch of us students would go out to the football field and watch him fly the little planes.

Some of us got really interested in radio-controlled airplanes. I never had one, but some of my friends did, and many weekend days I’d go watch them fly their planes from Newhall Park.

Pity to think that now, in the city of Santa Clarita, those same types of toys are called “drones” and are banned from flight in all city parks.

Why did model airplanes with radio control get banned from the city parks? Did someone make a miniature military-type drone that fired little Hellfire missiles and destroyed little cars, trucks and tanks?

Some of the newest radio-controlled planes and helicopters are pretty sophisticated. They have tiny little TV cameras that transmit back to a monitor the operator can watch. I’m sure some of these little drones can be used to watch the neighbors in what they thought was a completely private hot tub.

But our parks don’t have hot tubs … so were these little airplanes a safety problem? How many accidents with these planes have there been in our parks?

Or is it a more nefarious plot to suppress the use of drones of any kind?

officials-remote-controlled-craft-drones-not-allowed-santaWe all know drones are an evil weapon of war that can’t be good in any form, even a scale model.

Something like cap guns and toy rifles. And maybe Legos. Ever step on a Lego left on the carpet in the dark of night? Now that should be banned, too.

I was getting a good laugh, reading the comments here on SCVNews about the report that the little aircraft had been banned. Many people said something like this: ”If we don’t let our kids have those radio-controlled planes, they are going to turn to using drugs.”

Well, I would bet many of us who watched those planes in the early 1960s at Placerita Junior High and at one time had radio-controlled planes of our own used some not-so-legal drugs anyway. So what is the point?

I’m just guessing here, but I would think what the people were really talking about is that Santa Clarita is becoming the “City of No.” No doing this and no doing that and no doing anything else that is fun.

A few folks wondered when kites would be banned, too, along with throwing balls and other objects normally thought of as recreational playthings.

“We want to prevent someone from getting hit with one of those aircraft.” Could the parks director please tell us how many people have been hit with them? I do know that one of the aircraft Mr. Barnes flew at Placerita Junior High flew into the back of a kid’s head.

No, the kid’s parents didn’t “lawyer up” and sue the teacher. Those of us who saw the “accident” laughed a lot, and the plane lost its wing. All was recovered, and we continued watching those planes.

So maybe that is what the city of Santa Clarita is really worried about. They don’t want someone getting hit with a little plane and taking the city to court to recover millions in damages.

Or maybe they don’t want kids who can’t afford to have those planes to feel disappointment and be emotionally scarred for life from “model plane envy.”

My question is pretty simple: What are the cops going to do about the real crime when they have to police the use of model aircraft?

Laws and regulations like the model aircraft ban are really unenforceable. They are stupid, too.

Most of all, city of Santa Clarita, get off our backs.

 

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com and his commentaries are archived at DManzer.com. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].

 

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33 Comments

  1. msc545 says:

    Well said!

  2. Mike Smith says:

    Well written! I couldn’t agree with you more. We have become such a paranoid society that it is now taboo to fly remote controlled airplanes as they may be some CIA drone. I guess the alternative is to keep kids locked up inside and have them simulate the experience on Xbox. This is truly getting to be a joke of a city. You know when a town has to tell you how ‘awesome’ it is, you may want to take a closer look.

  3. Don’t worry there’s plenty of things to do here on SCV. NOT.

  4. Kyla Nicole Cunningham this is something I hate about SCV

  5. Not so awesome anymore, hey??

  6. Shane Weeks says:

    Thank you for your post. This type of thing really bothers be. Instead of some common sense legislation like no flying over people’s heads or within x amount of feet of people they totally ban the activity. Go makes it worse they give us no option of a public place anywhere in the Santa Clarita valley to fly one. And before someone mentions cross winds field in castaic b lease check your facts because it is not public and cost $175 a year to use.

  7. John Diego says:

    Nanny State now resides in Awesometown!!!

  8. NA/ says:

    I grew up here sense 63 way before it became the scv and became a police/nanny state! They even spy on you drinking a brew at Castaic lake with high tech video surveillances and arrest you for smoking cigarettes too,, but I guess that’s alright now! Oh wont someone think about the children,,, they might be having fun and that simply cannot be tolerated at all!

  9. Seems like no big deal to me, and not indicative of some sort of conspiracy to control the masses. Go play with the toys somewhere else, no biggie.

  10. Christian says:

    Well while I do agree with you, I’m guessing the problems lies with the fact that there are some pretty powerful, very dangerous R/C helis and planes that are simply not safe to have at our parks and require AMA insurance to fly (and these parks are not sanctioned by that insurance). Now mind you I haven’t see any of the nitro fixed wing out there but you could see that happening. I believe it’s the big 4-6′ diameter nitro helis that are the problem. I’ve seen these out there in places where they shouldnt be… the smaller “toy” class of RC isn’t really the issue, but where/how do you draw the line? The RC craft of old are pale imitations of what’s out there now. I think it was deemed easier/safer simply to ban them all… just my 2c.

  11. James Parker says:

    Land of the free….oh wait

  12. Shane Weeks says:

    Jared, where should they go play with them?

  13. Paul Mahone says:

    Kudos to you sir for writing this.

  14. I didn’t know I moved to Burbank, CA

  15. Paul Mahone says:

    Jared Gardner it isn’t a big deal. For a city to build a park with revenue collected largely from the taxes of homeowners and residents of the scv and then tell them that they may not partake in a family friendly mostly safe activity.

  16. Mike Whitman says:

    Well written. Thank you. I believe that the parks should be open to activities like flying RC planes when done in a responsible manner. The city of Santa Clarita has a published code of conduct for recreation in the parks that makes sense already and should not place additional restrictions on activities that are not injuring anyone.

    A few lines from the code of conduct:

    -All persons shall act with respect towards others; respect their privacy, and personal safety.
    -Behave in a responsible manner, always exercising self-discipline

    http://www.santa-clarita.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4852

    That should be enough. Statistically, baseballs are more dangerous than model airplanes.

  17. Hey there is good news here. The sheriffs department will be too busy prepping for their DUI check points that rarely pick up any drunks to bother with enforcing this law.

  18. Heidi says:

    35 or so years ago our family had RC planes and the only places we were allowed to fly them was Sepulveda Basin and a place in Castaic. The pros were a joy to watch, but we newbies and semi-suffecient persons often crashed our planes. Luckily no one was hurt but our pocketbooks. These places were somewhat isolated from playgrounds and other areas where families gathered for a good reason. I understand the frustration, but these restrictions aren’t a new thing. One of those planes, no matter how small can cause a lot of damage if it hits someone. What would be a good compromise is for an area to be set aside solely for this activity, like the dog parks.

  19. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Then they lawyer up and go for the deep pockets. It’s sad that people are so greedy. That’s why we don’t get to do fun things :(

  20. We need a night club and strip club too xD

  21. What’s going to happen to hobby people store :3

  22. Marc Webster says:

    SCV the land of NO. Yet they have 4 wallmarts; who said yes to that. On another note i do feel that quadcopters should be banned from viewing fires or flying autonomously in class E and G airspace where the grey area exists for general aviation safety. But banned in parks or designated RC areas of parks thats absurd.

  23. Dont forget NO fireworks lol

  24. Shane Weeks says:

    Someone MIGHT get hurt? I wonder how many people get hurt each month playing soccer on our parks. Heck, I’m very curious how many innocent bystanders get hit by wayward soccer balls?

  25. Jose Franco says:

    Idea: Instead of complaining and shaking your fists at the “nanny state” that is Santa Clarita, why don’t you try and have the law amended to allow quadcopters or other small RC controlled aircraft? That could actually solve your problem.

  26. A lawyer would have a field day with this. Could cost the city $$$$$$$

  27. Jose, if the city was interested in allowing any RC aircraft, they would have set aside an area for it as implied by their park rules but instead they have told people to go to Castaic instead.

  28. Mario Leon says:

    then when are they going to ban baseball? im sure there is alot of people in the hospital because lost balls. .. scv sucks … thanks old people money

  29. msc545 says:

    We need to ban EVERYTHING that could cause harm. Cars, lawnmowers, water hoses, rakes, scissors, kitchen knives – the list is endless! I mean, someone could be hurt – it could cost MONEY! Terrible!

    Why is it that this City manages to take the fun out of life? And we do we allow this crap ?

  30. msc545 says:

    Ok, it occurs to me that we could at least set aside areas for people to use RC planes and drones without interfering with others. Instead, the City, in it’s usual club-handed fashion, decides to ban them altogether. We need new people on the City Council.

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