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By Sage Birchwater

A yellow and black plastic helicopter, the size of a cocker spaniel, lifts off skyward two hundred feet straight up in the air. Then suddenly it darts sideways fifty feet, then straight ahead, then backwards. Its high-pitched engine screams, all the while emitting a cloud of blue smoke. Its movements are quick and eratic, resembling that of a giant dragonfly, only more versatile; upright one moment, then upside down the next.

(Photo: Brian Motta points to the servo motors that power the moving parts of the radio-controlled model planes.)

A crowd of people watch from the grassy infield of the 108 Mile Airport. This helicopter flight was one of the highlights of the third annual model airplane aeronautics meet hosted by the 100 Mile Model Flyers club last weekend.

Dean Obayashi from Merritt piloting the radio-controlled diminutive helicopter, stands inside one of four triangular protective barriers on the edge of the airport tarmac. His hands work the electronic controls and his eyes gaze skyward intently following the gyrations of his whirling dervish. All too quickly the flight is over and he gingerly brings the craft down to earth, despite losing a strut just before landing.

The 100 Mile Model Flyers is one of 54 registered Model Aeronautics Association of Canada (MAAC) clubs in British Columbia and the Yukon, and one of only two in the Cariboo. The Cariboo’s other registered group of model plane enthusiasts is in Quesnel. In total there are 13,000 MAAC members across Canada.

(Photo: Bob Dover from Kamloops gets his Tiger 60 plane fuelled up for flight.)

Participants and spectators converged on the 108 Mile airstrip for the June 25 and 26 weekend from as far away as Invermere in the East Kootenays, Prince George, Kamloops, the Okanagan, and places in between.

Bill Hood, president of the 100 Mile Flyers, had plenty of help from other club members to host the event. He personally demonstrated one important lesson: “never take your eyes off your plane while you are flying it.” He lost the initial plane he was flying when it nose-dived and smashed on the asphalt runway.

“I looked away just for a second,” he explained while picking up the splintered pieces of his plane. “That’s something you just can’t do with the speed these things go. They go so fast.”

While he was disappointed with the crash, Bill wasn’t devastated. “I’ve still got a dozen more planes to play with. Fixing this one up will give me something to do over next winter.”

At any one time, three or four model planes were coursing through the sky over the airstrip. Each of the four triangular fenced flight stations were occupied by two people. One was the pilot operating the controls and the other was the co-pilot spotter. With all that air traffic, a spotter is essential, because as Bill Hood demonstrated, the pilot can’t afford to take his eye off his plane for a second to see what else is going on.

Casual observation of the pilot and co-pilot, gives the impression of a couple guys fishing. Some of the electronic controls have a several-metre-long wand projecting forward.

Treasurer of the 100 Mile Flyers club, Brian Motta from Horse Lake, estimates the model planes reach speeds of seventy or eighty miles per hour.

“The jets go even faster,” he says. “Upwards of ninety miles an hour.

Motta explaines how the radio control system works. Turning over his plane he points out the servo mechanisms that initiate movement on the planes. The servos, or small electric motors, respond to radio signal commands from the pilot, triggering the movement of the rudder, the throttle, the elevators, wings flaps and ailerons. Some planes even have a servo to lift their wheels while in flight.

Motta has been flying model planes for a long time.

“I always loved to fly,” he says, “and I always loved airplanes, but I couldn’t afford to do the real thing. I started flying model planes using elastic bands then about twenty years ago I got into radio-controlled flying.”

Motta obviously has a sense of humour. Many of the model planes have replica pilots sitting in the cockpit to give them more realism. Motta has two cartoon characters manning his plane, Bugs Bunny in front, and Daffy Duck riding shotgun. What makes this set up particularly hilarious is that once he cranks up the motor, the wind from the propeller blows Bugs Bunny’s ears straight back, giving it a sense of realism.

(Photo: Len Doucette of 108 Mile House says he’s a newbee when it comes to flying model radio-controlled planes, with his RV8 home-built airplane.)

Len Doucette from 108 Ranch is one of the newer members of the 100 Mile club. A member for only three years, he describes himself as a 'newbee'. He says he was a bit nervous when he first launched his RV8 replica of a RV4 home-built airplane. “My first flight of the year was pretty nerve-wracking, yet it was pretty exciting at the same time.”

Ryan Bock, 15, from 108 Mile House, and Corey Bro, 14, from Lone Butte, were two of the younger model plane enthusiasts at the meet. Ryan was particularly excited after getting to pilot one of the club’s planes for the first time. He explained that next year he’ll be taking the aviation course at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School in 100 Mile House, the only course of its kind in School District 27.

Back on the tarmac, Rob Dover from Kamloops gets help from Dean Obayashi to launch his modified Tiger 60 plane. Dover says he modified his plane so he could fly it more precisely. “The original model is an advanced trainer,” he says. “I’ve taken it to the next level and converted it into a competition airplane.”

Jack Mackill, formerly from Williams Lake but now living in Lumby, says model planes come in kits of about five pieces “almost ready to fly.” Pilots can modify them from there.

Michael Hendry from 108 Mile House built his powerful Extra 260 model plane from a kit designed for competition flying. Flying straight up it is so powerful it hovers like a helicopter.

“I’ve been flying for twenty years, since I was a kid,” Hendry says. Then he took a few years off to have a family, and now he is back into it again. He says model planes can be expensive. A professionally built plane can cost between $7,000 to $10,000.

Bob Scheer from Kamloops says he goes to as many meets as he can.

“There are MAAC-sanctioned meets every weekend from May to the end of September. Meets in Kamloops, Summerland, Logan Lake, and a float plane meet in the Shuswap. They go on all summer about a week apart.”

One of the main benefits offered by the MAAC organization to its member groups is insurance, a necessary function in this modern day where crowds of people gather. Meets like the 108 Mile event must abide by certain standards like having protective fencing for the pilots, and by having a spotter standing nearby.

(Photo:  The smashed remains of Bill Hood’s crashed plane.)

Scheer says some of the meets are highly competitive, and the planes are judged by how well they can follow a certain pattern. There are also sail plane events where unpowered aircraft compete to stay aloft the longest. Other meets, like the 108 event, are just fun get-togethers where pilots demonstrate their skills and latest aviation creations.

John Code, secretary of the 100 Mile Flyers Club, says twenty registered pilots entered the 100 Mile meet this year, down a little from last year. He says some of the planes easily reach speeds of 90 or 100 miles an hour, and some of the flyers are actually real pilots.