Radio-controlled aircraft swoop into Empire

TRAVERSE CITY -- Snoopy first crawled atop his doghouse in 1965, transformed into a WWI flying ace, and battled the Red Baron. Charles M. Schultz's iconic character will fly again this weekend.

Upwards of 40 pilots and 80 planes will buzz the Empire airport during the 31st annual Traverse Area Model Pilots Society Fly-In on Saturday and Sunday. The event will include aerobatics and scale helicopters and airplanes, replica aircraft and turbine jets.

"We have such a diversity of airplanes," said Mark Hamlyn, who has flown radio controlled planes for 24 years. "Anything that can get in the air, we fly, including some unusual stuff. Snoopy will be flying in his doghouse."

The event will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free. Donations will be accepted, and a portion of profits will be donated to a local charity.

"People think of model airplanes as little toys, and that's not the case," said Kim Coutuirer, club vice president and 20-year airplane enthusiast.

Show highlights include world class, competition-level aerobatics helicopter pilots, and a miniature turbine-powered jet that will fly across the flight line at close to 200 miles per hour.

Traverse City resident Nick Harwood has flown helicopters for three years and instantly was attracted to aerobatics helicopters, aircraft that can do things regulation helicopters cannot.

"It's called 3-D-style flying," said Harwood. "We do inverted flight, we try to make it as low to the ground as possible. You'll see the helicopter change direction instantly. You'll see aerobatics that seem impossible."

Also in flight will be electric airplanes, whose technology has skyrocketed in recent years. Popularity among radio-controlled electric airplanes is growing, due in part to lower cost and maintenance.

"I keep a solar panel in my car, which charges a car battery, which I can use to fly my airplane," said Mark Wood, 22-year aerial veteran. "When I first showed up at the field with this electric flying rig, everyone laughed and said 'What are you going to do with that?' Then within a week we had about 10 of them in the club. We'd do combat and see if we could knock each other out of the sky."

Club members said camaraderie plays as big a role in the outings as do the airplanes.

"It's just a good group of people where you can sit around and all enjoy doing the same thing," Wood said.

Photos

Mark Hamlyn prepares to fly his Extra 300 Extreme Flight airplane during practice for the air show in Empire this weekend. Record-Eagle