High-flying hobby: Model airplane pilots to gather next weekend

The area's second big air show of late will start Thursday and run through the weekend at Galaxy Air Field north of Cape Girardeau off State Highway 177, where about 100 model airplane pilots from around the nation will demonstrate their skills.

But the planes will not be the smallish, "buzzy" types with which most people are familiar. They will be "3D" models, running to wing spans of six to eight feet, with propellers from 16 to 28 inches in diameter.

Moved to Cape Girardeau from Dallas three years ago, the 3D Fly-Low-In will draw "modelers" from numerous states, Hawaii and Canada, taking off from the airfield's 150-foot paved runway, said Rick Renfrow, Southeast Missouri Modelers Association spokesman.

Sanctioned by 3D Hobby Shop Inc. of Muncie, Ind., the event likely will draw several hundred spectators on Friday and Saturday nights, June 27-28, Renfrow said, adding admission is free. He suggested spectators bring a lawn chair or other seating. Turn left on Gizmo Lane to reach the show.

The planes will fly from 9 a.m. to around midnight the first three days and until noon on Sunday the 29th, he said, but the competition will begin "when the sun goes down Friday and Saturday.

"It's who can present the bravest, most radical stunts," Renfrow said. "The closer to the ground, the better. There will be things people have never seen or thought about seeing.

Josh Price of Rudy, Arkansas, flew his radio-controlled Extra 330SC aerobatic monoplane during the June 2013 3D Fly-Low-In at Galaxy Park north of Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

"The pilots fly the illuminated planes up and down like a helicopter and dip the tails of the aircraft into a wading pool of water. The spectators will be sitting right on top of the action, and the planes will have additives giving off scents of pineapple, grape and strawberry."

Renfrow said the Jackson Optimists Club and Boy Scout Troop 311 will operate a concession stand specializing in fish.

SEMO Modelers Association officers are president Phil Hagler and secretary Christina Smith of Cape Girardeau and vice president Seth Sherman and treasurer John East of Jackson. The group started in 1972 with six members.

Renfrow, a supervisor at Southeast Hospital, said the exhibition was moved here after group member Fred Finnell prevailed on organizers to take advantage of Cape Girardeau's central location.

He said Friday and Saturday night, competitors will have three minutes each to persuade three judges, picked from among experts who attend but do not fly, that they're the weekend's best.

"It's just for bragging rights," Renfrow said.

"The performances will be synchronized with music. The planes are battery-powered or have two-stroke 150- to 250-cubic centimeter gasoline engines; and you can't tell the difference except by the sound."

He said most of the planes are original designs, not replicas of well-known aircraft, and that while most can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, they range up to around $20,000 in some instances.

More information is available by calling Renfrow, 573-450-7696, or visiting semmarc.org.