Flying Site Assistance
Finding—Preserving—Maintaining
While reviewing the mailbag this month, I came across two items I want to share with you. They are noteworthy because they show that with a little effort, our sport can be highlighted in local newspapers, spun in a very positive light (not too much spinning needed there!), and the story can reach very many people.
"Wired for Fun" — Cleveland Plain Dealer (Brian E. Albrecht)
Berea — The plane is all flash and furor. Flight on a leash. A sudden blaze of color and a screaming buzz, diving at freeway speed, then soaring to the clouds, leaving faint gray contrails of methanol/castor oil‑scented smoke swirling in its wake.
Five seconds later it’s back, rolling upside-down, cutting the kind of split-second aerial corners the Blue Angels would envy.
Then it’s gone and back again, swooping in fat loops, connected by two thin wires to a control grip held by a flier who guides the aircraft in wide circles just a few feet off the ground. One hand controls the difference between a perfect outside loop and a pile of shattered wreckage. Tilt that hand back, and the plane climbs, straining at its wire tether.
Dip that hand forward, and the plane plummets to seeming doom.
It’s Control Line flying, as recently practiced by members of the North Coast Control Liners at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds.
The fliers are survivors of changing times and technology during the 60‑some years since someone first got the idea of using lines to control “Free Flight” model planes.
They swapped rubber-band motors for small 1/4- to 1‑horsepower fuel engines capable of sending these handcrafted 30- to 60‑ounce creations howling through the air at 50 or 60 miles per hour. (Or they could use a miniature jet engine as Control Liner Bill Capinjola, of Uniontown, recently did to set a Control Line speed record of 190 mph.)
These modelers have persisted in the face of urban sprawl that periodically sends them roaming for new rural fields to fly. They’ve steadfastly stuck to their wires, and handcrafted balsa and tissue‑covered airframes, as radio‑controlled airplanes became the darling of model aviation in recent years.
Ron Lutz, North Coast Control Liner president, dabbled with radio‑controlled planes a few years ago, but came back to wired flight. “The thing about Radio Control is you don’t have a feel for the airplane,” says Lutz, 57, of Wadsworth. “You’re just pushing this little stick around on the transmitter, kind of like a video game. With Control Line, you’re more or less attached to the plane. You can feel it moving out there.”
Though Control Line fliers represent less than 15% of the 170,000 members in 2,459 clubs of the National Academy of Model Aeronautics, their number has slowly increased in recent years.
Start‑up aircraft and equipment run from $50 to $100 according to Control Line modelers. They also say most novices adjust fairly quickly to the initial dizziness associated with flying a plane in circles.
Eventually, many fliers gravitate to such Control Line specialties as Precision Aerobatics, Scale modeling, Speed Racing, Navy Carrier, or Combat.
A sampling of some of these specialties was offered during a recent gathering of the 48‑member North Coast Control Liners at their usual flying field, a grassy area off the fairgrounds’ parking lot.
Though the 12‑year‑old club is grateful just to have a place to fly, they’d prefer paved flying circles. The grass is deceptive. “Subconsciously you might feel better flying off grass because you think it’s softer. But if you put one into the ground, either way, you’re not going to be terribly happy with the outcome,” says Todd Lee, 29, of Parma.
Lee, a Continental Airlines pilot, is going to a world competition in Germany this month as a member of the US Control Line Aerobatic Team. He’ll be flying a P‑51B Mustang he spent more than six months designing and building.
He’ll be joined by Bill Werwage, 60, a five‑time national and two‑time world Aerobatic champion whose flying and aircraft designs are almost legendary in Control Line circles. Werwage credits his success to “a lot of hard work, and being able to say, I don’t have it as good as I want it yet. I’m constantly working with stuff, experimenting. I guess I’m still trying to get it right.”
Other club members may wish they had it as right as Werwage, as he steps to the center of the flying circle and guides his P‑47 Thunderbolt aloft. The usual bustle of preflight preparation and conversation on the sidelines comes to a hush until all eyes turn to Werwage.
“Watch this,” says Wayne Buran, club secretary. “This is as good as it gets.”
Werwage puts the ship in smooth silver strokes of wings and wire. The moves are seamless and sure, from triangular and square loops to a landing that glides to earth with the grace of a falling leaf.
As the plane rolls to a halt, the sidelines erupt in applause. Werwage doffs his hat and bows.
Soon, sunset bathes the skies in orange, darkening the field. Yet the pilots still try to wring some flying time from the dwindling daylight, hanging in there, as always.
Times and technologies may change, but Control Liners persist, confident that as long as someone keeps the hard‑wired faith, what goes around will always come around again ... exactly five seconds later, with a screaming, methanol/castor oil‑smoking vengeance.
"Mission Possible: Aim for the Skies" — Prescott Daily Courier (Mirsada Buric‑Adam, July 8, 2002)
Yavapai Family Fliers (YFF), a local non‑profit group, is on a mission. The group wants to get people of all ages, especially youths, involved in model aviation; a hobby that can offer not only a recreational experience, but an educational one as well.
Last week, YFF members presented several of their models, as well as experiments, to some 50 Boys and Girls Club members who gathered at the Mountain View Elementary gym. The youths were able to learn about what it takes to build a radio‑controlled model aircraft, the skills needed to fly one, and about the aerodynamic principles that allow a plane to fly.
Sixty‑eight‑year‑old Norm Walsh, a member of YFF, has been flying model planes for more than 50 years. He said that model aviation has had a huge impact on his life.
“Model aviation kept me out of prison,” he said, adding that it kept him away from the bars. “I was always looking for nothing but trouble. And most of them ended up behind bars,” he said.
Six years ago, when Walsh’s group formed a club in Chino Valley, he told the history to town officials. It got their attention, he said, and they agreed to designate a field for the club’s use.
“We are trying to get a model field in the Prescott Valley area so it could be more convenient for the kids,” he said. “Our goal is to introduce kids to full‑scale aviation careers and possibly the opportunities through model aviation. Many of the commercial and military pilots in the U.S. were and are modelers,” Walsh said, and astronaut Neil Armstrong was one of them.
“Modeling teaches kids how to apply their (modeling) knowledge in school,” he said, adding that it helps them with problem solving, patience, and concentration.
“Even if they do it only as a hobby, they can apply the skills learned in model aviation in many other professions,” he said. “I held a job, and I was the only non‑college graduate in that job. It was only because of model aviation. I could solve problems that other guys couldn't.”
Besides being fun, the message YFF hopes to get across to the youth about model aviation is that their involvement can keep them out of trouble. It can introduce them to the math and science knowledge needed to enter the fields of astronomy or aviation. “There is no limit to what we can do with these kids if we get an opportunity,” he said, adding that YFF can teach them about aviation history as well.
Walsh also stressed that the model airplanes are not toys. “These are miniature aircraft that fly on the same aerodynamic principles with the same problems and the same performance as the real ones.” Many people, including children, do not participate in model aviation because of its costs, he said.
“We are maintaining trainer airplanes so that these kids can come out and fly without cost,” he said. “We do not want to turn one kid away because of their financial status. We want these kids to be members of the Academy of Model Aeronautics,” he said. “It costs them $1 per year, and it provides necessary insurance for flying.”
YFF is trying to get moral and financial support from the community, Walsh said. The Valley Hobby Shop, a local business, has shown its support, for example, by selling YFF models at a discount.
Some of the planes are dual‑control trainers, which allow the instructor to rescue the plane if the student loses control of it. Dual control makes a no‑risk try for anyone interested, he said. “We want families (to get involved) not just kids. We want to get people who always wanted to fly models, but couldn't.”
Fourteen‑year‑old Justin Phelps became interested in flying model airplanes a year ago. Currently he is building an aerobatic biplane. Meanwhile, two to three times a week he practices flying a PT‑40 model, which is a trainer plane. Besides being fun, his interest in airplane modeling is geared more toward becoming an aeronautical engineer one day.
“When you are building planes you learn how aerodynamics works and you learn how to design better planes,” he said. “That's why I'm doing this. And it's a lot of fun.”
His friend, Brandon Wheeler, who started flying models just recently, said that flying miniature airplanes is not easy because it requires multiple skills. For him, however, it will only be a hobby. “I just like having fun and something to do during the day,” he said.
Walsh said that airplane modeling is a hobby that can close a gap between generations. “One of our oldest members is 88 years old,” he said. “It is a hobby that they (children) can have until they are old like us.”
Two different articles on two distinct facets of our sport, but they put model aviation in the public eye in a favorable light. This is a very good strategy for you and your club if you are planning ahead for that “We need to find a new site” dilemma.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
