Portsmouth Meet Up…Coming Soon! Easter Saturday 19th April - Alexandra Park

[Topscooby]

Hey guy’s and gals,

Noticed that there has been an upturn in chat regarding Meet Up’s in my local area…which is Portsmouth!

With this in mind I’ve decided to try and organise something for over the Easter weekend. I’m totally open to suggestions regarding exact day/s and times, and also, locations.

My first thoughts on dates are either Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday the 18th, 19th, 20th and/or 21st of April…which is the whole Easter weekend dates…so plenty to choose from.

Reply in this thread with your thoughts/preferences on the above dates.

As for locations… again, I’m open to suggestions but my immediate thoughts are as follows: Alexandra Park, on the foreshore, close to the Mountbatten Centre. This has the advantage of open parkland and a foreshore with loads of room to fly. Also, plenty of (free) parking. The photo below is one I took whilst flying here…

https://maps.app.goo.gl/2XKCf2ub3zgWT7Ae7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

The advantage with this location is that, having flown here many times, I’ve never encountered hostility towards drone flying at all! In fact, quite the opposite, with many people genuinely interested and fascinated by the whole thing. Other possible locations include Eastney Lifeboat Station…where I was invited to film them launch for a training exercise. It was great filming both craft launching and following them into The Solent , knowing I had there full encouragement and support!
Another possible location is Southsea Seafront. This has many TOAL locations but over the Easter break will be absolutely heaving with families and, therefore, the reception to drone flying could be very ‘mixed’!

Again, reply in this thread with your thoughts and suggestions on suitable TOAL sites.

If we can get a group of GADC forum members together for a Meet Up all well and good, especially if some of the more experienced pilots can possibly help out those that would benefit from their experience and knowledge. At the very least, it should be a great day out with like minded folks who enjoy the hobby we all love

So, please let me know your thoughts and suggestions and I will consider all your ideas and, hopefully, come up with confirmed date, time and location.

Many thanks,

Andy

P.S. Please add any tags that may be beneficial to this thread.

@group-southeast
@group-fpv
@group-air-3
@group-mini-4-pro

[jedpause]

Hi there…for me Saturday or Monday I think…
Friday might be v busy on the roads…I’m at Heathrow just over an hour away..
Locations…never flown there but will go with the crowd..I like the 1st suggestion

Cheers, Jed

[Kidsgalore]

I hope it’s a great success. On this occasion my I have a date with my daughter​:grin: who will be coming home for that weekend

[OzoneVibe]

Not Sat am, for me .. but any of those Easter dates should be OK for me.

[DaveMoo]

Hello, Dave here. I am new on the Drone and FPV scene. I am an older guy and probably held some anti drone thoughts in the past, I won’t deny it. However, having tried an FPV drone I realised I was missing out on something hugely satisfying and exciting. I live in the Fareham area and can generally only fly during the week days due to other weekend responsibilities. I realise how difficult it can be to get people together in these busy times with family and work commitments etc. I don’t think I will be able to make it over the Easter period but would like to keep in touch with anybody from the area. I’m going to post this in the into section as well. Kind Regards Dave

[Topscooby]

At the moment I’m thinking of making it on Saturday 19th April (the day after Good Friday). Late morning and into the afternoon might give more people the chance to attend… ( Dave @OzoneVibe ).

I’m going to keep an eye on the weather forecast for the entire weekend to see which day might be best.

I hope people will be able to come along and enjoy the Meet Up whichever day we finally choose.

Andy

[OzoneVibe]

Chances are it’s no sooner than 12:30 for me. It’s in my diary.

I’ll update the thread title for Sat 19th, too.

[Nik469]

Sounds like a plan is coming together,

I usually avoid popular places at busy weekends.
Too many people etc but ill keep an eye on this thread.

I often stop at Farlington to grab a few shots for a timelapse i"ll never edit together whilst on my way to either Halying or Eastney.

[Topscooby]

I took a quick flight around over the park area this afternoon. Here’s some photos to give you an idea as to the variety of flying opportunities available at this location. There are two car parks available here, one of which can be seen at the bottom left of the first photo.

[Topscooby]

Hey Dave @OzoneVibe Thanks for updating the thread title…if the date changes (due to weather for example), I’ll immediately inform you.

Andy

[MrJAS]

I’d love to attend this one, but I’ll be abroad that week

[Topscooby]

Unfortunately, the weather for the whole of the Easter weekend is now looking pretty bad. Rain is forecast for each day so the opportunity to get out and fly is very doubtful.
I personally never fly in the rain. I don’t even like being outside when it’s raining let alone sending my drone up!

With that in mind I think it’s going to be best to POSTPONE THE MEET UP

Sorry about this but, as you can no doubt appreciate, the weather is one thing totally out of my control.

However, I still fully plan to go go ahead with the meet at a later date. To this end, I will keep updating this thread with more details of the location, car parking (including aerial maps) and all the facilities available that we can use.

So, please do keep checking back as I will be adding more details and photos imminently.

Andy

[PingSpike]

Andy, are you sure you want to cancel based on a forecast which is still a week away yet?

[Topscooby]

No, not 100% sure but I don’t want to have people travelling for (potentially) miles only to be sat in a wet car park on their own!

I’m quite open to leaving it for a few more days before confirming if it’s still on (or not) and am totally open to what you think is best Rich!

[PingSpike]

Don’t ask me Andy mate, I’m 250 miles away

I was merely highlighting how inaccurate a 7 day weather forecast can be

[Topscooby]

Ok, leave it for now and I will monitor the situation over the next few days then give a definitive decision…good or bad!

[Topscooby]

I have confirmed with the staff that we can use this car park for up to four hours without needing to pay. They also confirmed that we don’t need to enter the centre itself to use the car park but, if we want to, we can use the cafe, toilets etc. even though we are not members. I have included some photos of the cafe including the menu!

[Topscooby]

And for reference, here is the Mountbatten Centre Car Park.

The last photo is of the TOAL.

[Topscooby]

The TOAL can be easily found from either the Mountbatten Centre car park or the second car park which is accessed via Alex Way which is off of Northern Parade.

[Topscooby]

Here are the What Three Words coordinates for both car parks…
I’m sharing a what3words address to help you find this specific location. Tap to see exactly where it is:

///others.simply.guides

///others.simply.guides

I’m sharing a what3words address to help you find this specific location. Tap to see exactly where it is:

///plays.crowds.sound

///plays.crowds.sound

And this is for the TOAL
I’m sharing a what3words address to help you find this specific location. Tap to see exactly where it is:

///casino.breath.kinds

///casino.breath.kinds

And this aerial photo shows both car parks and the TOAL circled in Blue and the three short walks from the two car parks to get to the TOAL