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By ESTHER K. SMITH
News staff writer
April 26, 2006
Now that spring is here, a bunch of
Gorge guys who love model airplanes — of the flying variety — are
filling their free hours with as much flying time as possible before
the wind arrives.
The Columbia Gorge Aeromodelers is a diverse group of guys with a
common interest: Playing with anything that flies.
“This is a fun hobby, and addictive,” says Chris Christopher, who is
one of the newer members to discover this habit. “I’ve been doing this
a little over a year.”
Other members, like Chuck Weatherly, Roy
Cederstam and Dennis Vance, have spent 25 to 50 years or more
developing their craft. Jack Dunn, a former test pilot and original
club president, has enjoyed the hobby since the 1930s.
“We have a wide range of interests,” says Arthur Higgins, current
president of the club. “Some of us like to slope-fly; some like
precision aerobatics. Our members have all kinds of planes, mostly
fuel-type. Electric planes are basically a new entry — only the last
five years or so.”
The group is a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (the “mother
ship for RC flyers,” its Web site states) and is currently making
itself available through Community Education to assist those who would
like to learn more about remote control aeromodeling.
“It’s not a class, really,” Higgins says at the second of four indoor
meets for Community Ed. “What we’re trying to do here is introduce
people to it — in order to do this hobby, you have to be
self-motivated. We don’t supply the equipment; we just want to expose
them to it.”
The description of the sessions in
Community Ed’s catalog reads, “These indoor flying sessions are open
to anyone wanting to learn about radio-controlled airplanes. Special
electric planes will be demonstrated including helicopters and 3Ds.
Club members will work with beginners on how to get started, tips for
flying, and repair and servicing.
“Introductory models will be available for beginners to fly. Open to
anyone 12 years of age through adult.” The sessions are held in Hood
River Middle School’s multi-purpose room.
One of the biggest challenges for the RC enthusiasts is finding enough
space to accommodate their hobby.
“There’s a field on Fir Mountain Road, owned by Don Hardman; he lets
us fly there,” Higgins says. “Some of us also fly at the port site at
times, but we can’t fly with people wandering around. Fortunately, on
the days that are good flying for us (calm, no wind), it’s not good
for the windsurfers and kite-boarders.”
But the group fears that the new park under development at Lot 6 is
going to have a negative effect on their being able to use it for
flying.
While the port is open to the public, Hardman’s field is restricted to
CGA members and their invited guests, all of whom are careful to
observe a strict set of common-courtesy rules: Be on your best
behavior, no dogs, no loud music, no alcoholic beverages, pick up your
trash, etc.
The field is an active hay field, so
parking and foot traffic are limited to certain areas until after the
hay is cut.
One of the club’s special interest groups, or SIGs, met on a recent
fine spring day to practice precision aerobatics.
“We’re sort of a group within the group,” says Chris Christopher.
“We’re critiquing each other as we learn.”
“Jack Dunn is the only experienced competition flyer here, and he’s
helping us to fly better, and critiquing us,” Higgins says. “The
routine is this: takeoff, trim pass, two loops, one roll, stall turn,
inverted pass, top hat, Cuban 8, two rolls, traffic pattern, and
landing.”
Phil Moss, who has been taking his “Showtime” model through its paces,
braces himself for the three judges’ criticisms and scoring. Two of
them were first-time judges.
Dunn calls for the scoring on the first maneuver. “9,” “8,” say the
first-time judges. “4,” says Dunn. “It was pretty bad. He swerved when
he started, lifted off a little fast and turned.”
The other maneuvers are judged in succession, to the benefit of both
pilot and judges.
“Those of us who participated in the scoring learned a lot about the
process today,” wrote Roy Pettit in an e-mail later that day. “But
more members who are present need to score the flights … Getting more
scoring inputs will be beneficial to both the flyers and the scorers.”
Arthur Higgins
President of Columbia Gorge Aeromodelers
Another special interest group within
the group is the slope flyers. And visible from Hardman’s field is a
slope that has national renown for its updraft.
“There are always guys there from Portland, and I’ve run into a group
of guys from Ft. Lauderdale who have been coming here,” says Dave
Hmiel. “It’s pretty much a nationally known site — we are blessed.”
“It’s an awesome place to fly,” says Dennis Vance. “There’s another
place up at Bald Butte, but that one’s a little harder to get to. If
you have a 4-wheeler you can get there. Another one is over by Bingen
— the view is just beautiful there.”
In slope flying or slope soaring, gliders are used to find warm air
pockets to stay aloft.
“Gliders are real slow flyers,” says Christopher. “They are designed
like a hawk — to go up there and look for thermals.” Gliders have no
internal power source, unlike fuel and electric models.
“When we’re doing slope flying, the gliders from the airport like to
go over there, too, and sometimes they buzz right by us — it’s so
cool,” says Vance.
Other plane types in evidence at the precision aerobatics practice are
older designs such as fabric- or plastic film-covered stick frame
models, and “foamies,” injection-molded foam models.
“This is the classic way of making a model airplane: balsa wood and a
thin film covering,” Hmiel says, pointing to a large “park-flyer” type
airplane, only suitable for outdoor use. “You don’t want to crash
these! This is a combat foamie, made of corrugated foam — the same
stuff political signs are made of — these are practically
indestructible, and easily repaired; you just tape them back up.
They’re also less expensive.”
“It’s not a cheap hobby,” says Higgins.
“The planes can be from $500-$1,000. This plane was $34 but he’s got
$500 in his hand (the transmitter). This one is gas-powered;
state-of-the-art. He has about $1,000 invested in it. That plane can
fly anywhere from 60-100 mph.”
So obviously, the object is not to play demolition derby. It happens
often enough without trying. At one point Vance got distracted by
another plane coming up behind him and lost concentration long enough
to crash his favorite plane.
“I’ll fix it again,” he says. “I’ve wrecked that plane so many times —
it’ll fly again!”
Higgins had said the same thing in January, at a special event to help
those who might have received remote control airplane models at
Christmas.
“We crash, crash, crash, and what do we do? We put it back together
again!”
*****
To learn more about remote control aeromodeling, contact Community Ed
at 386-2055 to attend the next indoor flying session, or call Arthur
Higgins at (541) 478-3451 or e-mail
arthigg@gorge.net
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