Club books flights for Saturday in E. Bruns
Radio-control club to hold 'open house' at Heavenly Farms
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - - Don't tell a member of the Tri-County Radio Control Club to go fly a kite.

The club members would instead prefer to fly radio-controlled airplanes, and anyone interested is free to join them on Saturday at Heavenly Farms, Dunhams Corner and Cranbury roads. The club expects to have 20 to 30 members on hand for the free event, called "Open House: Welcome to the R.C."

"We are holding the event to introduce the public to our wonderful hobby and partly to thank Mayor [William] Neary for allowing us to fly at Heavenly Farms while it is being developed," said club member Mike Forbes.

Anyone who comes out will see quite a show as well. The planes, which weigh up to 30 pounds and can be up to 10 feet long, are sometimes flown so high that they are no longer visible to the naked eye. Club members will perform stunts such as loops and rolls for the public during the event, which will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Forbes said the club welcomes gliders, helicopters and other devices, though the radio-control airplanes are the most common. Many of the planes will be scale models, meaning they're based on real planes.

"We will also have some really wild stunt planes, which are very colorful and powerful, and do things you didn't think planes could do," Forbes said.

The club is grateful that the mayor permitted it to use Heavenly Farms, because up until now the club members were limited to a field at Middlesex County College, Edison, which it had to share it with other groups.

Several of the Tri-County club members are East Brunswick residents, and one of them approached Neary to ask if they could use Heavenly Farms to fly planes until the township further develops the park. Getting permission was a relief, Forbes said, because the college field is not much bigger than his yard.

The hobby is fairly uncommon in part because of the difficulty of finding safe places to fly, which in turns limits the public's exposure. Noise and air restraints also limit the opportunities.

"Not many people know about us," Forbes said.

The club considers the June 16 event an open house, similar to the mall shows the club has done. But in this case, instead of just having a bunch of tables full of airplanes, visitors will get to see some planes fly quite high.

"There's a lot of fun to be had, plus an excuse to get out of the house and show off our fleet," Forbes said.

Flying instructors will be at the event, along with a wide range of club-owned aircraft.

"If it has wings, we'll bring it and fly it," Forbes said.

That means a $3,000 aircraft can be flying next to a $200 dollar one, he said. Some of the planes are built from kits, while others came preconstructed. Some can even be purchased at stores such as Target.

Also in use Saturday will be "buddy boxes," which have two transmitters. These allow a novice to fly the plane while an instructor has the ability to steer it out of trouble if needed.

Forbes owns numerous planes, as he said every enthusiast needs at least a few in case one crashes. The hobby also tends to bring out the collector in people.

"It's hard to own just one," he said.

Rain date for Saturday's event is June 23. For more information about the club, visit the Web site http://www.tcrcnj.homestead.com/home_page.html or e-mail Forbes at vanning@comcast.net.