Great Outdoors: Radio Controlled Planes

Duluth-Superior RC Club

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They loop, swoop and dive as they soar high.

In this week’s Great Outdoors we take a look at a hobby that 5 to 95-Year-Olds can enjoy.

It’s a hobby that is on the incline: flying radio controlled planes.

“I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. I like building. I like flying,” said member of the Duluth-Superior Radio Controlled Club David Hildre.

Not only can members of the club fly helicopters they also fly planes from every decade, including float planes and even acrobatic planes.

“This is an airplane it obeys the same laws of flight as a full scale airplane, it’s no different,” said RC Pilot Frank Tahtinen.

The life-long passion can get expensive with some aircraft costing in upwards of $20,000.

For those looking to get in to the hobby though, there are affordable options.

“They have one out there for about $129 bucks that has the radio, the airplane the transmitter, the battery charger everything you need to fly. It flies easy and is a cheap way to get into the hobby,” said Hildre.

While the radio controlled planes may look easy to maneuver, pilots said they are a challenge, which makes it fun, with skills they can continue to perfect.

“Every flight is different because of the wind or your nerves and stuff. You just feel really good when you perform, or maneuver with a lot of precision,” explained Hildre.

A lot of the RC Pilots once soared high in the sky with their own set of wings.

“A lot of guys had their pilot’s license and the cost of it got expensive or they lost their medical and they’ve gone into radio control. Lot more challenging than full size flying,” said Tahtinen.

Tahtinen owned an airplane for 15-years.

His passion for aviation began as a child.

“My father was a pilot and I just grew up with it. He was killed in a P51 Mustang in Duluth in 1951. They were training to go to Korea,” said Tahtinen.

In fact, he just completed a radio controlled replica of his father’s plane.

All these years later and Tahtinen’s dads memory lives on in the skies of Duluth.

The Duluth-Superior RC Club has around 110 members, more are always welcome.

They said a great way for people to get aeronautical exposure is by using a computer-based flight simulator.

To learn more about the hobby: http://www.duluthsuperiorrc.com/