Model-aircraft enthusiasts take to the sky during Cape Fly Hi

The high-pitched whine of a small engine ratchets up as a miniature plane circles back toward the earthbound pilot during Cape Fly Hi, a Southeast Missouri Modelers Association model-plane air show held Saturday at Galaxy Park in Cape Girardeau.

The park, at 441 Gizmo Lane off Highway 177, has several amenities on site for model plane enthusiasts. A covered area paved with loose gravel offered shade to spectators and participants alike, and tables were set up for the model planes� flight preparation.

A blacktop runway awaited the planes� takeoff and landing.

Mark McCoy, a member since 2010, said he became involved because he�d liked model aircraft since childhood.

McCoy held a controller, one half of the training system a more experienced pilot can use to help teach a novice how to work the controls, while David Strop, 9, took a small craft out for a test flight.

Strop�s father, Sam McDaniel, watched his son maneuver the craft, and said, �I do think it�s interesting � it�s a worthwhile hobby.�

�There�s a lot of variety� in the group, McCoy said. Members fly model warbirds and helicopters, and multi-rotor crafts � drones, as they�re more commonly known.

Some models have as much as a 10-foot wingspan, he said, but most are smaller.

Member Mark Robert demonstrated one of his model planes, a 90-inch wingspan craft with a two-cycle, gasoline-powered engine � like a weed-eater, he said.

Yellow and purple decorations on the balsa-wood body weren�t painted on, he said, but were a coating that provides decoration and protection against the elements.

Robert, who works at Procter & Gamble and also owns MJR Custom Woodworks, said he�s been interested in flight since watching crop dusters, years ago.

�I wanted to fly, myself,� he said. �This is an easier route to get to fly something.�

Robert got his first plane at age 16, he said.

�You can get them a lot of different ways,� he said. �This one was an ARF � Almost Ready to Fly.�

He just needed to put in the motor and controls, he said.

Model aircraft companies also sell kits, he said, and those can be as rudimentary as pieces of wood in a box.

�It�s a lot of fun,� he said, adding he tries to get out to the park at least once a month.

Only about 10 spectators had gathered by about 10 a.m., but more were expected later.

McCoy said the group is a charter of the Academy of Model Aeronautics out of Muncie, Indiana. In the past, he said, the air show has had between 75 and 80 pilots.

�It�s a great family event,� McCoy said of the air show.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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