Lake County >> Flying model aircraft truly is a hobby for everyone. Whether a seasoned mechanic with a well-loved tool belt or someone whose skills don’t extend far beyond using a screwdriver, there’s a model plane for all skill levels. Some planes come pre-assembled and can be up in the air in hours. Others can be bought as kits that you put together with your own two hands. Some people even go a step further, hand-cutting the plane from balsa wood and constructing the thing from nothing more than a sheet of plans.
Clearlake Modelers, a local club flying radio controlled model aircraft out of Beckstoffer Vineyards in Kelseyville, welcome all ages, skills and interests. Where some clubs have a niche, focusing on a certain model of aircraft, anyone can fly anything with the Clearlake Modelers.
The planes themselves range from beginner models to more complicated contraptions that swoop and dive, making it possible to advance to any level. Some people, like club member Terry Turnil, prefer to keep things simple. He buys pre-built planes. One of his favorites is a model designed specifically for beginners. He got it three years ago, and it’s so easy to fly that four other members have bought the same plane.
Turnil first started flying model airplanes 35 years ago down in Orange County, but after a series of mishaps — first he crashed and destroyed his plane, then just when he’d rebuilt it, someone broke into his van and stole it — he laid the hobby to rest. It wasn’t until retiring six years ago that he decided to get back into model aircraft, since planes had gotten significantly cheaper and easier to put together. Turnil realized he could buy ones that required nothing more laborious than sticking on a propeller.
Where Turnil would prefer to get his plane in the air as quickly as possible, others revel in the process. Mike Giancaspro would choose a kit over a pre-assembled aircraft. “There’s something about taking a box of sticks and turning it into that,” he said, indicating a shiny model plane.
Giancaspro got into flying model planes since before moving to Spring Valley in 2005. He’d been interested in airplanes his whole life, even flying them on occasion, and model aircraft was an inexpensive alternative to the real deal.
But just because Giancaspro had a bit of flying experience before picking up a remote controlled plane, that didn’t make operating a model plane any easier. It has its own set of challenges. For example, when sitting in an actual plane, if you turn the yoke left, the plane banks left. When flying a model airplane, depending on your perspective and whether or not the plane is flying at you or away from you, it’s easy to mistake left for right.
Or if you’re hanging upside down in an actual plane, you’re going to know it. With a model craft, unless you can visually see the plane, you may not know it’s the wrong way up.
“That is really, really hard to get used to at first,” Giancaspro said.
Giancaspro has taught people will full pilots licenses how to fly model planes, and one of two things usually happens: either they’re extremely fast learners, since they already know the dynamics of flight, or they have an exceedingly difficult time. Some have come in with the attitude that because they fly actual planes, learning to fly something they believe is akin to a toy would be simple. Their first crash tends to prove that assumption false.
The Clearlake Modelers have some full-sized pilots in their club, like Tom Overton, who has been flying model planes with the Lake County group for over 20 years. Not only is Overton a pilot, he’s also built four real planes from the ground up.
When Overton retired and decided to move out of the Bay Area, a model aircraft club was a requirement for his new location. This was how he wound up in Lake County. Clearlake Modelers began in 1980, and has been operating out of a stretch of land on the Beckstoffer property for years. Beckstoffer lets them use the location free of charge.
Their flying facility is expansive and impressive. “Here we are, the poorest county in the state, and we’ve got a regular runway, a glider runway, and an FPV [drone] track,” said club member Tom Inderkum. “There aren’t a lot of clubs in this country that can say they’ve got all those three.”
But no previous flying experience is required to join the Clearlake Modelers. The club will teach you how to fly, using a buddy box system that allows an experienced member to tandem fly with a newbie, taking control if the beginner gets into trouble.
After about a month of flying twice a week, someone should be able to operate a model airplane by themselves, Turnil said. And for Turnil, being able to successfully get the plane off the ground and land it again is the most satisfying part of flying.
“When you’re able to take it off on your own and land it on your own, that’s really a thrill,” he said. “Some landings and takeoffs can be pretty rough.”
And thanks to technology, it’s now easier than ever to learn how to fly. Someone can use a computer simulator to get comfortable in the air before they ever lift off from the ground. 50 years ago, it was all trial and error.
“You’d destroy 20 airplanes by the time you really learned to fly,” said Overton.
New technology also allows for some pretty good thrills. Giancaspro has a camera attached to one of his planes, and with a set of goggles he can keep two feet on the ground, while still getting a birds eye view as his plane soars high above Lake County. It’s as close as you’re going to get to being in the pilots seat of an airplane, without actually stepping into a real plane.
But even with modern advances, crashing is inevitable, either due to mechanical failure or human error. And nothing beats learning to fly like hands on experience. Which is why the Clearlake Modelers encourage people to join them at their flying facility. The members are eager to introduce some newcomers to the hobby.
“It’s possible but it’s very difficult to learn to fly these things by just watching YouTube videos. Some people have done it, but you can come out here and have these people who have been doing it for years … teach you how to do it. It’s worth its weight in gold,” said Inderkum. “They encourage you when you crash. It’s easy to get discouraged when you’re first starting out.”
The Clearlake Modelers aren’t just a club — they’re a close-knit group of friends who share more than just an enthusiasm for model planes. “Everybody is very helpful for each other. It’s like one big family,” said Overton. “Anybody would do anything for anybody else, even outside of the club, not just airplane-wise.”
That camaraderie is what has kept Overton involved in the club for 20-odd years. Now the group just needs some new blood to take up the mantle, and continue on with a decades-long tradition.
For more information, visit www.ClearlakeModelers.com or call Richard Bachman at 533-7541 or Jack Tatum at 350-4862.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
