I’ve already taken one wrong turn when I notice a bright red model airplane doing what could only loosely be termed as “flying.” A better description would be “flinging itself drunkenly through the air,” as the pilot dances the little plane across the sky.
Unofficially, guys have been meeting to fly model airplanes in Santa Maria since the 1950s. The Tri-Valley RC Modelers were officially chartered in the 1960s.
President Chuck Barnes says he got his start back in 1977 after watching some guys flying gliders in Long Beach. He’s been hooked ever since. He’s also by no means the club’s most longstanding member. I’m introduced to one of those guys.
Frank Osborne, a World War II veteran who was a flight engineer on B24s and B25s, was flying RC planes back before the “R.”
“We didn’t have radio,” he says, adding that it was model airplanes that got him interested in aviation. He’s not the only one, either.
“Every one of the guys I flew models with ended up in the service as aviators,” Osborne said.
Model airplanes range from as small as 12 grams with a 12-inch wingspan to 42-pound scale models with 10-foot wingspans powered by 170cc two-stroke engines. Getting into the sport can cost around $300 to $350, but, says Barnes, “the sky’s the limit.”
Most people think of flying RC planes as a guy flying a plane in circles. However, while sport flying is popular, it’s only one aspect of flying.
There is 3D flying of the sort I saw driving up to the airstrip—competitions with scale models of real life aircraft—and for the Top Gun in all of us: combat.
In RC aerial combat, streamers are tied to the tails of each plane, and the objective is to cut your opponent’s streamer with your propeller.
Club rules typically limit flight operations to five aircraft in the air at any one time, but combat gets a special case. Barnes recalls one instance where there were 13 planes in the sky going at it at once.
But the five plane rule is there for a reason: safety.
“Imagine what a couple of pounds of plastic flying at 30 to 40 mph with a spinning razor blade on the end of it would do to you,” Barnes says.
I’m also regaled with tales of lacerated fingers and fists. Barnes doesn’t want to scare anyone away, but he wants to emphasize the fact that the safety rules are there for a reason.
“We have to fly by the rules, for safety. It’s just common sense,” he says.
Tim Gottermayer was flying the plane I saw when driving up. He agrees that the rules are well worth the ability to fly at the club’s airstrip.
“When I would fly at the park, people are talking to you while you’re flying; kids and dogs would chase the plane,” Gottermayer says.
The club welcomes spectators and people interested in joining. It just had its first open house at the new airstrip. According to Barnes, 28 pilots and “lots of spectators” showed up.
“For a first event, it was pretty successful,” Barnes says.
For those interested, there are training programs and instructor pilots for those wanting to get a little stick time.
“We do train, we have trainer planes to make sure if they like it. If someone does like it, we’ll teach them on a buddy box,” Barnes explains.
And if they don’t?
“Well, at least you didn’t pay any money,” he says.
For more information about the Tri-Valley RC Modelers, visit their website at trivalleyrcmodelers.com.
Contact Staff Writer Nicholas Walter at nwalter@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 4, 2009.