Rules

Note to Reader: Please read and be familiar with Sections 1 and 2 below for operating at Inter River Park.
Section 3 is reference material for CAR/MAAC compliance.

Section 1: Key Operating Rules and Safety Procedures

1. The orange cones must be set out prior to flying (even if flying alone). This is a MAAC (Model Aeronautcs Associaton of Canada) requirement. ALL flying must be done west of the flight line. If not familiar the with proper cone set-up contact a club executive for clarification.
2. All pilots are responsible to ensure that flying is restricted to the designated fly zone, as posted at field. This includes Fields 4, 5 & 6 plus the west grass bank up to Dike Service Road, NOT over Fields 7 & 8, nor over Lynn Creek residences.
3. Flying will cease one half an hour before sunset (see exception below). Time of sunset can be found on the Government of Canada weather website: htps://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/bc-74_metric_e.html
   having selected “Vancouver.”
   Exception: Night flying is only permited if the following two conditions are met:
   a) flying is within the designated hours of operation as sanctioned by the District of North Vancouver (lease-holder).
   b) the RPA/model carries appropriate illumination, ie the model is brightly lit.
4. The direction of take-off/landing, and traffic patern will be determined by the prevailing winds. If there is no wind, all take-offs/landings shall be to the south.
5. Hand launching and bungee launching shall be done in agreement with any pilots flying – normally to one side of the pilot stations.
6. The altitude limit (AGL) is 400 feet and is to be observed at all times.
7. Do not fly within 30m of pedestrians walking around the outside perimeter of the fence.
8. A maximum of two (2) gas/glow powered aircraft may be run at any time. Five (5) aircraft may be flown simultaneously at any one time, ie two (2) gas/glow and three (3) electric/gliders. Sunday flying is restricted to electric powered aircraft.
9. When there are other flyers waiting for a turn, flight time is limited to 6 minutes

Section 2: Administrative Rules

1. Anyone wishing to fly at Inter-River Park must possess valid MAAC insurance and be a member of the NVRCFC – noexceptions.
2. Flying is allowed only during the “Park Permit” field booking times. See htps://www.nvrcfc.com/ for current flying hours.
   No flying is permited when DNV field maintenance personnel are on the field or other field users (ie sports teams or any members of the public) are on the field.
3. Pilots must avoid any damage to the field including taking all precautions to ensure no fuel is spilled onto the grass. The area used by the club is to be kept clean and free of liter.
4. In the event of an emergency call 9-1-1 and advise of the situation. The address of the NVRCFC field is: Inter River Park Field 5, Inter River Park Road, North Vancouver.
5. Max AUW (all up weight) of models must not exceed 5.44kg (12 lbs), except by special permission granted from club executive.
6. A maximum sound level (as per District Noise Bylaw # 7188) is enforced. This is 55 dB at 5 metres from source.
7. MAAC and NVRCFC Rules concerning field safety and ettiquete must be always followed. MAAC Rules can be found at htps://www.maac.ca/en/documents.php See relevant docs under “Advisory Group – Safety”. NVRCFC rules are posted on NVRCFC website htps://www.nvrcfc.com/Rules/ It is the member’s responsibility to be familiar with and follow the rules relevant to model type.

Section 3: CAR/MAAC Compliance (for Reference Only)

1. Club members should check for Vancouver Harbour Airport (CYHC) related NOTAM by either using the NAV CANADA NOTAM portal or using RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems) Wilco app or similar. If you are the first pilot of the day and have printed a RPAS Wilco site survey, please leave it at the site for fellow modelers to reference.
2. All models must be restrained before starting or powering up, including electric powered models.
3. In the event of a “fly-away” towards Vancouver Harbour (3.77nm west) you must call Vancouver Harbour ATC using the “emergency only” number 604-688-9254 and advise them of the issue. While our site is in uncontrolled airspace, we are 0.77nm from the edge of CYHC Class C controlled control zone (see diagram below).
4. Visual observers and MAAC “spoters” are optional at our site. The following are club procedures for ensuring full scale aviation safety:
   i) When any member or other person spots a full-scale airplane that might come near the site, they are to yell out “AIRPLANE” in a loud voice.
   ii) ALL Pilots must then immediately descend to as low an altitude as possible and land as soon as safely able.
   iii) When the full-scale airplane is no longer a threat, the person who gave the warning shall yell “ALL CLEAR”, or the pilots may make that determination themselves, and resume flying.
5. If there is any type of near miss or safety concern between a full-scale aircraft and our RPA, ALL FLYING SHALL cease immediately. The members involved should fill out a MAAC reportable occurrence report and submit that to the Club executive and follow MAAC policy with the following exceptions:
   i) If the member(s) involved believe the risk was very minimal, they may complete their own self declaration or risk assessment, using the MAAC form. Submit a copy of the form to the club executive when able and note, you must keep this form for one year (CAR901.49 (2)). Resume flying when done.
   ii)If the member or Club executive deems the event serious, flying will not resume until members are given permission by the Club executive – in writing.
   iii) If there is actual contact between an aircraft and a MAAC RPAS – all flying will cease until MAAC confirms flying operations may resume.
   Please note, this process is for your protection.
6. No RPA or other model aircraft flying will be permitted to fly below the Club mandated weather minimum. Members may determine the weather themselves with direct observation or from another reputable source:
   i) If cloud is present below 1000’ above the model flying area
   ii)a horizontal visibility requirement of less than 3sm around the flying area, and
   iii) if there are other obscuring conditions (fog, smoke, haze etc.) which could make spotting full-scale aircraft difficult.

Use common sense safety precautions when at the field. It is a great privilege that the club maintains City permission to use Inter River Park. It is everyone’s responsibility to keep our field safe and incident free!

Drone Specific Rules

1. No flying on main field when fixed wings (or equivalent) are in flight. Flying is permitted in helicopter area when fixed wings are flying. 

2. FPV allowed only when a spotter is present AND drone remains in line of sight by pilot.

3. No flying outside of Flight Zone (as posted at field) especially over people’s houses to the west and south or out of visual line of sight

DO NOT FLY OVER FIELDS 7 & 8!

Field Use Protocol

Read and be familiar with the Rules above. Pay attention to the no-fly zones.

Please approach other field users with kindness, explain that the club has paid to rent the field during this time and for their own safety they need to clear the field until (X o’clock). If they are testy and don’t want to leave, don’t escalate. Better to wait them out, or if a large group, come back at another time. It helps to be wearing your club membership card when you approach members of the public.

It is highly recommended to use the short chains in the storage box to “lock off” the north and south gates while flying. This reduces the possibility of people straying on to the field while you are flying. Remember to retrieve the chains when you leave or advise whoever will be “closing up” that they are there.

Nitro planes should be filled and started on the asphalt by the bleachers – not on the grass. Fuel spills kill the grass. No nitro flying on Sundays.

Please pick up your trash! Broken props, balsa fragments, elastics, foam chunks, etc. belong in the garbage, NOT tossed under the bench or left on the field.

If you crash hard, fill in the hole with the displaced turf. We don’t want to leave big divets in the field. And please pick up ALL the pieces, otherwise we are littering the field.

All planes must be labelled with the MAAC owner info. If you do not have one of these stickers download the template which is a sticky on the club Facebook page (see link to Facebook page on top right of new website Home Page). Again, this is a MAAC requirement.