They say the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys and now that the warm weather finally is returning, some of those men and their toys are coming out of winter storage.
Bob MacDonald is president of the Fort Frances Radio Control Flying Club and for him, spring means a return to the Fort Frances Airport where, along with other club members, he once again will be watching as meticulously crafted scale models of real aircraft slice through the skies over Taxiway Bravo.
“With [spring] weather coming, I’m sure some people will want to get flying again,” MacDonald said from his home at Bear’s Pass.
Actually, because MacDonald lives right on Rainy Lake, he was able to fly his aircraft right off the ice outside his window over the winter. Now, it’s back to business as usual.
MacDonald said the club, which is entering its second year operating out of the airport, currently consists of about a dozen members. Through negotiations with the airport manager, the club has received permission to operate Wednesday evenings and some weekends—subject to regular airport traffic, of course.
“We have a special operations protocol,” he noted. “We’ve struck a deal with airport manager and we carry a VHF radio so we can stay in contact with the manager.”
Of course, many club members put the winter hiatus to good use by building new aircraft or repairing older ones, which often are damaged by hard landings and other mishaps.
That’s why they go through extensive training by their peers before flying solo. MacDonald said part of that involves using something called a “buddy cord,” in which the trainee’s radio is connected or slaved to that of a more experienced pilot.
The situation is similar to a student flying with an instructor in a real airplane.
Of course, there’s nothing that legally prevents someone from just going out and trying it on his own, but MacDonald advises strongly against that.
“If you’re going to do that, you had better bring along a garbage bag because that’s how you’ll be taking the airplane home,” he warned.
There also is a CD ROM which can be hooked up to most home computers and provides a realistic simulation of flying a radio-controlled model airplane.
The club also will check out your airplane before you fly it to make sure it’s airworthy before setting you up with a buddy cord.
“It’s [radio-control flying] a lot harder than it looks,” said MacDonald. “Kids who play computer games a lot tend to pick it up a lot faster than us older guys.”
He said conventional pilots also may have an advantage since they already understand the principles of flight.
One of those is Brad Jorgenson of Fort Frances. His day job involves flying CL-215 waterbombers for the Ministry of Natural Resources but on nice weekends, chances are you’ll find him at the airport with his one-quarter scale Piper J-3 Cub.
That was the case last weekend, when he made his second attempt in two weeks to get the plane airborne.
“I had mixture problems last week, but it seems to be running OK now,” Jorgenson said after bringing the aircraft down for a safe landing.
People like Jorgenson have hundreds of hours and sometimes thousands of dollars invested in their aircraft. For the beginner, MacDonald said a person can get started for about $700, which will get you a bare-bones aircraft and engine.
And for the less mechanically inclined, packages called Almost Ready to Fly (ARF) can be purchased for considerably more.
The advantage of these kits, said MacDonald, is the wings and fuselage already come assembled, so all builder has to do is put in the radios and fuel tanks before finally assembly.
This requires only nine to 12 hours of work.
MacDonald said he recommends trainer aircraft for beginners since they are more forgiving and more rugged. But among the more advanced fliers, he noted, many invest huge amounts of money in their aircraft—some of which are faithful replicas of famous aircraft from history.
Because of the amount of time and money invested, as well as the proximity to airport operations, safety is constantly stressed at the club.
“We insist that everyone join the Model Aircraft Association of Canada,” said MacDonald. “It costs $50 per year, but it includes $2 million in liability insurance.”
Club membership is $20 per year, so if you want to try your hand at radio-control flying, contact Bob MacDonald (481-1104) or Doug MacDonald (274-6118).
The sky beckons.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
