MODEL PLANES COMMON SIGHT NEAR GORDONVILLE; BUFFS `FLYING' ALMOST DAILY

GORDONVILLE -- It is easy to find the radio-controlled aircraft practice field near Gordonville.

Just look up.

Failing in that, stop off at a local antique shop or gas station. Just about all the locals know about the model airplane pilots who gather every weekend on Highway Z just outside the Gordonville city limits.

The group is called Southeast Missouri Modelers Association, or SEMMA, and boasts about 44 enthusiastic members. They fly almost every weekend when the weather is good. The best time to find them is a few hours before sunset.

On Sunday afternoon they came out early to give Iron Mountain Railroad passengers a show. The railroad tracks run right next to the practice field, so riders got off the train to watch the small aircraft dip, flip and spin.

It is the kind of attention SEMMA people like, member Randy Reisenbichler said. They want to see more people take an interest in model airplanes.

"We love spectators," Reisenbichler said. "Sometimes people think they shouldn't come down here or that they would be bothering us, but we welcome visitors. As long as they stay behind the fence, they're fine."

He said a sign at the entrance of the airfield is a little confusing: It warns against trespassers but welcomes visitors.

The mixed message makes sense when people realize how dangerous flying a radio-controlled airplane can be. While the planes are only a few feet long and easy to lift, they can go as fast as 100 mph. Send something like that into a car or a person and there is bound to be damage.

That's why SEMMA members lease their airfield from a farmer and don't want other fliers on the land. Because all members carry liability insurance, it protects them and the farmer they lease from.

Jim Bollinger, SEMMA vice president, said fewer accidents happen these days than in 1967, the year he bought his first radio-controlled aircraft. He was a bomb loader in the Air Force at the time.

"That plane was a piece of trash," Bollinger said. "At that time it wasn't uncommon to have four crashes at an event like this because of radio failure. Now we only have crashes because of something stupid we did."

The hardest part of flying the aircraft is takeoff and landing, Bollinger said, but there are devices to help people learn. Two people, an expert and a novice, can hook their radios to each other. The expert can handle takeoff, turn control over to the novice, then take control back for the landing.

After about six weeks of two or three lessons a week, a person can fly the airplane on his own, Bollinger said.

The hobby is relatively cheap after the initial investment. A new plane, motor and radio costs a minimum of $400. After that, fuel is about $11 a gallon, but a gallon can last a long time.

All sorts of people from all over Southeast Missouri have become interested. SEMMA membership includes a minister, doctor, school principal and lawyer. Three of the members are women.

Frances Prater said her husband, Herb, was the first in the family to take up flying.

"I was out here all the time with him," she said. "He said, `I'm going to build you a plane. Will you learn to fly it?' I told him I would."

The hobby is fun but a little nerve-wracking, Prater said. She added that her husband still launches and lands the plane.

It seems the biggest hazard of becoming a SEMMA member is addiction, Bollinger said.

"We always say breathing the methanol in the fuel keeps us coming back," he joked. "Really, the nice thing about this hobby is you can go to any level you want with it."