Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
They’ve been through a bunch of airplane crashes but they’re both still walking to tell about it.
If you’re afraid of crashing, they say, you shouldn’t be flying.
Neither Don Koch of Sweet Home and Brian Funk of Lebanon have been injured in their crashes, but they admit that it can be damaging to the wallet.
Funk is the president of the Lebanon Area Radio-Control Club. Koch is a member. They both have enjoyed years of flying radio-controlled aircraft in lieu of the more expensive option of getting into a cockpit and flying a full-size airplane.
The two hope to expand LARC, inviting local fliers and children interested in trying out the sport.
The club has been around at least 15 to 20 years, Funk said.
Until about four years ago, LARC was a closed club, but now the 27-member organization is open to new members, Funk said. It is now a nonprofit corporation, and donations to it are tax-deductible.
Members have contacted the Boys and Girls Club in Lebanon and Sweet Home about the possibility of getting youngsters involved, but that effort is in its infant stages.
The club isn’t at the point where it can open its doors to youths interested in trying radio-controlled flight, but that’s something that’s in the works. It could use some help along that line, Funk and Koch said.
“We’re looking for new members, people that are youth-oriented,” Funk said.
“It’s kind of an expensive hobby,” Koch said, and that could make it tough for parents to get their children into it. But the club has at least one plane that children can use to try radio-controlled flying; and members are planning on purchasing one or two more for that purpose. Funk and Koch also offer their own aircraft if parents or children want to come by and see what they’re doing.
“There’s some kids that have the knack for it and some kids that flat don’t,” Koch said. “Some young kids are just unbelievable” and can fly better than the most experienced adults.
Providing an opportunity for children was one of the things the club told the city of Lebanon it was interested in when Lebanon agreed to let the club use an old city-owned landfill, located behind the Lebanon transfer station. The club has a 10-year lease on the grounds, which are accessible only to club members.
Flying remote-controlled aircraft of any kind is against city ordinance in Sweet Home, Koch said. At the Lebanon site, “we’re not bothered there because we don’t have anybody close enough to complain.”
The American Modelers Association, with which the club is affiliated, and the club prefer that people fly their aircraft in designated areas, like the club grounds, Funk said. People flying planes in the park can give the hobby a bad name.
Membership in the national AMA covers insurance costs, so when visitors try flying, they also are covered as long as a controller is attached by a “buddy” cord. If something goes wrong, just like in a full-size aircraft, the covered pilot can take over and recover the aircraft.
Membership in the organization costs $58 per year, with discounts for seniors and children.
Koch said he knows of a couple of other Sweet Home residents who fly, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more.
“A lot of guys have planes just sitting in their garages but don’t know where to go to fly them,” Funk said.
As they get their club organized, they want to bring some of their fellow enthusiasts together; but that’s the hard part, he said.
A lot of people do fly, but they don’t have any connection with other fliers, Koch said.
Funk said he got interested in flying as a boy.
“I grew up in Southern California, in close proximity to Edwards Air Force Base,” Funk said. He grew up watching test aircraft there. He started flying at 6 or 7 years old with hand-launch planes and gliders.
“Flight’s intrigued me all my life,” Funk said. “If I could afford to get my pilot’s license, I would.”
Living on an airport, the old Langmack Airport, for more than 30 years, Koch said he’s the same way. He’s been flying for about 15 years total, getting into it again after a few years away from the sport.
Koch and Funk fly both scale and sport planes. Scale planes are replicas of real aircraft while sport planes, fast and aerobatic, are designed for performance based on the principles of aerodynamics.
A new flier could get into the hobby for about $400, Funk said. That includes basic equipment and a basic gas-powered plane. There are cheaper options too, especially in electric planes.
“Electric is getting a lot more popular than it used to be,” Funk said. Electrics have not had the horsepower of gas engines, but they’re getting more powerful now.
Two kinds of planes are available, he said. One, called ARFs or “Almost Ready to Fly,” require some work, such as attaching the wings, rudder and stabilizer. The other option is to build a plane from scratch, stick by stick.
Both Funk and Koch have built both kinds of planes.
“A kid with any kind of ingenuity (or mechanical inclination) could put an ARF together,” Koch said.
Now, some planes require even less assembly, Funk said. Some are 90 percent complete, and many of the smaller planes, like electric park fliers, are ready to go out of the box. Those are typically super light electrics that have a limited range.
The two typically fly two or three times a month on weekends during the summer, Koch said.
Retired club members can also be found flying during the week, Funk said. Flying is permitted from 9 a.m. to dusk, and that makes winter flying a little more difficult.
Planes require regular maintenance, Funk said, but that doesn’t take much time or money, though Koch said he has to spend more time maintaining his aircraft.
“It depends on how hard you fly them,” Funk said.
“If you’re going to fly them, you’re going to crash them,” Koch said. That means straightening out bent parts, replacing parts and rebuilding them sometimes.
“You get really familiar with adhesives,” Funk said.
“Epoxy works really well,” Koch said.
“It can get expensive,” Funk said. “But a basic trainer, they’re pretty durable. It’s a good learning hobby to get into.”
The sport exposes fliers to basic mechanics and the principles of aerodynamics.
Model airplanes fly just like the real thing, Koch said. With what he’s learned, he thinks he could get a full-sized aircraft off the ground. The controls are the same.
“But I don’t know if I could land it,” Koch said.
Koch can be reached at 367-8952. Funk can be reached at 409-3805.