More than 50 years ago I got to fly a control wire model aircraft.  It was a lot of fun but I thought it too much work.  I found other things to do and didn’t continue – didn’t really get the bug.  Looking at these people having so much fun with their radio controlled aircraft – I wish I had kept at it.  Maybe it’s not too late.

The Gateway Radio Control Club, Jacksonville, flies at the Lannie Road Model Flying Field located at 3461 Lannie Road not far from the Jacksonville National VA Cemetery.  If you do your own navigation, you can find them at N 30.33.084 and W 081.42.861.  Visit their web site at http://www.gatewayrc.org/

I watched them work with their planes and get them in the air.  From time to time, the noise of motors drowned out conversation.  I learned that sound actually is affected by wind.  One pilot had set up to our left to run up his motor for testing.  He drowned us out easily.  Later another pilot, with about the same size motor, started testing to our right.  The wind was blowing from left to right and the noise of the motor was perceptibly less. 

While the field is currently on lease from the city of Jacksonville Park Department, it is actually owned by the Veterans Administration as part of the new cemetery.  Where the RC club will move when the cemetery expands to that point is unknown.  Ideas are welcome.

I spoke to several of the hobbyists. 

Dick Marty of Jacksonville flies a Matt Chapman CAP 580.  He’s been flying since 1971 and is a member of both the Gateway RC Club and the Jacksonville RC Club.  The Gateway Club meets the first Tuesday of each month (7 pm) at the St Johnsons Seafood and Steaks restaurant at 1161 Lane Ave South near I-10.  The Jacksonville RC Club meets the first Sunday of each month at 10 am at the Club’s flying field 11425 Island Drive. 

Greg Byington of Fleming Island, FL, has been flying since 2000.  He’s a member of the Gateway RC Club.  Joe Tosocini, Keystone Heights, has been flying since 2007.  He’s also a member of the Keystone Cloud Busters in Starke, FL. 

The Lannie Road field is open to anyone who wants to fly radio controlled airplanes as long as they have an Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) license.  Check their website for more info:  http://gatewayrc.org/.  You’ll find a lot of information and photos there and on the website below.

Gateway, part of http://www.modelaircraft.org/, is in District 5 which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and the US Virgin Islands.  There are 11 districts.  Their phone number is (800) I FLY AMA (435-9262).

Their mission statement is:

The Academy of Model Aeronautics is a world-class association of modelers organized for the purpose of promotion, development, education, advancement and safeguard of modeling activities. 

The Academy provides leadership m organization, competition, communication, protection, representation, education, and scientific/technical development to modelers.

Gerry (Gerald) Mizelle, one of the members I spoke with, started building metal aircraft when he was about seven years old.  He got into radio control (RC) in the late ‘70’s.  Proportional control became more readily available and affordable about that time. 

Some consider it a hobby and some a sport.  Radio Control can be enjoyed at any age.  The following is taken from one of Gateway’s pamphlets: 

Is this a ‘sport’ or a ‘hobby?’  It is what you make it.  Only a few years ago, if you wanted to fly a model airplane, you had to build one.  That alone kept many people away from flying.  Now, with the high-quality ARF and RTF models on the market, virtually everyone can enjoy the sport of flying.  Many of us also take it into the realm of ‘Hobby’ in that some fliers also enjoy building their own planes from a kit or just a set of plans. 

Others like to tinker with adding electronic gadgets to their planes that send telemetry data, or shoot video.  There is virtually no limit to the myriad of ways you could waste time in your basement, I mean, avoid spending time with your spouse, I mean ……. Well, you know what I mean.

Peter Jackson, another Gateway member, started with plastic models when he was about seven or eight years old in Jamaica.  That was in 1977.  He first tried control line – that’s where you guide the model aircraft by holding a couple of wires attached to the plane.  (That’s the kind I got to fly.  I well remember gassing up the small plane, twirling the propeller by hand and being told: “Be careful, you don’t want to slice off your fingers.” I was around 10 and I sure wish, now, I had kept up with it.)

As Peter grew up, RC was very expensive while so much simpler than now.  “You had to build everything, sometimes having to cut it out yourself and put it together.”

He started flying RC while still living in Jamaica in the mid ‘70’s.  He was in high school.  He came to the United States with his family and continued growing in RC over the years. 

 “Because of my interest in model aircraft and aviation in general, I pursued it as a career.  I’m a licensed Airframe and Power Plant (A&P) mechanic.”  Peter works for Flightstar Aircraft Services, Inc., a repair station based at Cecil Field in Jacksonville.  The company provides maintenance for commercial aircraft including jets.  He’s worked there for four years and been a mechanic for 30.

   Burt Rutan has been involved with Gateway for four years this month.  His Extra 260, a 35% scale model is a miniature version of Walter Extra’s aircraft.