Austin R/C flying locations
(My original intention was to list the slope sites, but now I list the non-slope sites too)

Murchison Middle School, good for S to E winds. We generally park directly north of the black oval track on Far West, and we stand in front of the fence which is near the white track. The hill is so-so (it's really too small) for sloping, but since it's in town, it's probably the most commonly sloped place around here.

On the bright side, it's a nice grass slope, and you're not flying over anything, so it's the ideal place to get started in sloping or to get a new plane dialed in. Every once in a while, you'll find people out there testing their (full scale) paragliding gear. There's not enough room for them to fly, but with a good wind, they can get airborne for a few seconds.

Mansfield Dam, also good for S to SE winds. Note that we fly from the parking lot (which is the light colored loop in the middle of the picture.) We fly over the trees directly south of that -- we can NOT walk out on the dam (9/11 paranoia), so we don't really slope off the dam itself much.

The dam also makes some pretty good thermals, so you can fly out here with little or no wind as well. But you'll want a mini hi-start to get your plane going (I don't think there's really room for a full hi-start) if there's no wind. You could hand-launch, but if you don't find lift soon, you be climbing some trees to get your plane down.

Mansfield dam is not very forgiving of mistakes -- you're flying over some very tall trees and maybe even the dam or water itself, so I'd suggest doing your maiden flights at Murchison instead. But it's got a huge slope, and the thermals are great, so it's worth the trip.

Weather at Mansfield dam.

Georgetown dam, best in NW or SE winds, but good in N and S winds too. You walk to the dam and fly on top of it, right where it says `Cedar Breaks Rd'. Note that you have about a half mile walk from where you can park -- you park up near 2338 and Cedar Breaks Road. Most of Cedar Breaks Road is off-limits to cars.

It's a long drive from Austin, and then you have a long walk, and there's no grassy place to land -- you can land on the concrete, or on the rocks -- so it's far from ideal.

Weather at Georgetown dam.

Dave's Place, was good awesome in N to NW winds. Alas, a house has been built in the area that we flew over, and the land we stood on has been sold, so ... RIP. It was the best overall place to go slope flying in the area, and we will miss it!

At 2222 and City Park Road. I've heard reports of people slope flying here, and I've tried to find out exactly where they were flying from, and if it's where I think it is, it's not that great of a place. Yes, there's a slope, probably good for S winds, but you're flying over a big forrest of trees and there's no good place to land. Unless I'm missing something, I'd say just go to Murchison.

Canyon Lake Dam. I don't know much about this place, as I haven't been there yet. I think that this is the actual dam, which would make it good in W and E and similar direction winds, but I'm not sure. I've heard that this is a great place to fly, though it's a long drive from Austin. The HOTSS club members fly out here often, and their site talks about it a bit more.

Weather at Canyon Lake dam.

Enchanted Rock is about 90 miles to the west of Austin, and apparantly is a great place to fly, but I've never been there myself.

And these aren't slope sites, but they're other places where people fly R/C planes and helicopters in the Austin area ...

The HCAM field, at Mary Moore Searight park. The Hill Country Aeromodelers run this field. Gliders and park fliers (I'm not sure how this is defined, however) are not permitted to be flown here.

HCAM also has (or had) a place on Lake Travis somewhere set aside by the city for flying seaplanes. I haven't heard anything about it in a long time, so maybe it's not there anymore, and even if it is, I doubt it gets much use.

The ARCA field. Here is the web page for the Austin Radio Control Association. I've never flown here, but I assume the rules and setup are similar to the HCAM club.

The GAMA field, run by the Georgetown Aero Modelers Association. I've never flown here either, but I assume it's similar to HCAM and ARCA. They recently got a new field, so I'll have to check it out sometime.

The Austin Silent Flyers field in Pflugerville. The ASF club webpage can be found here. Gliders and electrics are flown here, and this is by far the best place to fly a thermal glider in the area. Nice big field, easy access, plenty of room for whatever sort of launching apparatus you choose to use (and you may be able to use somebody else's, especially on the weekend), no competing with people playing soccer or softball or walking their dogs ...

Weather at the ASF field.

The Lone Star Aeronuts in Cedar Park, and they have a club web site as well. I know very little about this club, beyond that it's a very small club.

Note that the HCAM, ARCA, GAMA, ASF and LSAN clubs are all AMA clubs, and therefore you'll have to be an AMA member to fly at these fields. It's $58/year and gets you a so-so magazine and R/C insurance (which is the big deal, though in most cases homeowners or renters insurance also covers you.) Around here, many of the people who fly only at the local slopes and parks aren't members, but you'll have to be to fly at the club fields. Generally the clubs will let guests fly for free (at least ASF and HCAM), but if you fly there on a regular basis they'll want you to join the club itself. (Summary? Club membership = optional. AMA membership = not optional.)

Dick Nichols Park, right near my house. Being a city park, gliders and small electrics are probably OK, but IC engines are not.

There's a number of other parks where you can fly out of, but I mention this one because I fly there occasionally. There's enough room for a mini hi-start, but not enough for a full one. The field that you fly out of is often used for softball and soccer so it's often unavailable, especially in the late afternoon/early evenings. There's also a pool in the park, so you'll often attract lots of kids who invariably ask `Where did you get it?' `Did you build it yourself?' `Can I fly it?' ...

Zilker Park. This is the part of the park that people actually fly in. The park is larger than this, but we all fly here so we can keep our frequencies straight. Again, being a city park, gliders and small electrics are OK, but IC engines are out.

Soccer is generally played here on weekends during the summer, and so you can't fly there then, and even if there's not any soccer, it's usually too busy on the weekends to fly, but it's usually good during the week. This part of the park also gets shut down while they prepare for the Trail of Lights, so you can't usually fly there from about Thanksgiving through Jan 5th or so. (Which is a pity, because the park isn't used much during the winter.)

I believe there's been an informal agreement made with the parks and recreation department that basically says 1) we will only fly here (and not in other parts of the park), 2) no IC engines, 3) no weekend flying, but I'm not aware of any more specifics than that.

Go to Zilker park around lunch time during the week, and if the weather is good, the odds are reasonably good you'll find somebody else flying.

There's just enough room for a full hi-start here, but a mini hi-start is often easier to work with. Most people who fly here either fly either park fliers, electric sailplanes or HLG/DLG planes, but you'll occasionally find a hi-start or winch set up.

Be careful of the park fliers -- you'll find a lot of people bringing out their spiffy new R/C plane from Toys 'R Us here, and that's fine, but they rarely have any clue about frequency control. Usually they're on 27 MHz and so that's not normally a problem, but not always. Also, they'll sometimes fly in other parts of the park so as not to bother us, not realizing that we'd much rather have them come and bother us :)

Target lot, near Lakeline Mall. I don't know the specifics, having never flown here before either, but I know the local helicopters guys fly here. Early saturday and sunday mornings seem to be the most popular. - gone.
Chase Bank. I don't know the specifics here either, as I've never flown here, but I know the helicopter guys fly here sometimes. - gone. Might have also been the same place as Target.
These are the flying sites that I'm aware of. If you're aware of any more, or if there's anything more I should include, email me at dougmc.NO.@.SPAM.frenzied.us.REMOVE.ME.