When the sky is the limit

I HAD Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s Learning to Fly on repeat in my head, bumping down a dirt track to an unlikely airfield, home of the Cork Model Aero Club.

The scene reminded me of a toys- for-big-boys club, they are inspecting each others machinery and discussing intricate electronic components.

Five seconds I’m told, is all it would take for me to crash one of these expensive model helicopters, that measure anything from three to five feet long.

Club chairman Richard O’Brien assured me that any airborne chopper with my fumbling fingers at the controls would promptly fall out of the sky.

I’d like to have taken issue with this, but I wasn’t invited to try, possibly because these guys spend literally thousands on their specialist hobby.

One pilot spent an incredible €18,000 on his model helicopter, I pictured it with gold-plated go faster stripes and tried not to get sick.

“You would last about five seconds before you crash,” O’Brien repeated. “I’d have to hand you the remote control when it is 200 ft up. At that height, when you decide to crash, I’d have time to take it back off you,” he said.

It’s an elite sport dominated by males requiring regular installments of cash.

Wives and other halves are likely to be oblivious of the cost of tiny components, batteries alone can cost over €100.

Entry-level helicopters, according to O’Brien, can set a buyer back anything from €600 to €1,200. Planes are less expensive, beginners can invest around €300 for a good starter kit.

“The helis are more expensive because there are more mechanics and technology involved,” O’Brien said.

They can reach top speeds of 260kmph, but speed is way down the list in terms of importance for a heli-pilot, these guys are looking for the right balance between agility, manoeuvrability, power and precision.

Peter Barber, an electrical engineer from Rochestown, spent three nights building his T Rex 600 Nitro and countless hours since perfecting it.

“You have to spend time setting it up and tweaking it. Hooks and wires have to be wound onto each other, the engineering aspect is the exact same as if you were building the actual thing. Everything a real helicopter can do, the model can do.

“The models are more advanced so the challenge to fly them is quite extreme,” he said.

Getting out on the airfield is Barber’s time out.

The phone is on silent, he goes ‘off the radar’ and gets lost in something he loves for a couple of hours.

“It’s a challenge, its exhilarating, it’s frightening — a great buzz. It keeps me out of the pub, gets me out in the fresh air and satisfies my interest in building things.

“Most of guys here would have an aptitude for all things mechanical and electrical because you have to, maintenance is a big part of it.

“You can’t just call in a mechanic like you would with a car; if you crash you have to understand what’s wrong and be able to get the parts and put them together. It’s a lovely community thing and everyone helps each other and that’s kind of part of it as well,” he said.

With blades measuring anything up to 800m long, these choppers can be dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. The club’s safety policies are strict.

Thankfully, with an airfield set out on lands of market gardener and model plane enthusiast Brian Perrott, space is not an issue.

Pilots often find themselves flying their model helis high above an entire field of daffodils, or lillies, or whatever is in season.

It is one of three airfields used by the 50-year-old Cork Aero Model Club, members aged between 6 and 86 can also fly at a site in Castlelyons and at an indoor flight site at Midleton on alternate weekends.

The Brinny site, according to O’Brien, is one of the best facilities in the country.

Clubs hold regular competitions that attract flying enthusiasts from all over. Novice flyer Jamie Hourigan, 14, from Midleton, arrived to fly competitively for his second time.

His interest began with remote control cars before graduating onto planes.

“It’s fun. The plane only goes one way, the helicopter goes six, it’s a lot easier to crash or for something to go wrong,” he said.

Jamie admits it’s quite a specialist hobby, though his friends are a little sceptical, but playing his X-box helps with hand eye coordination.

“My friends think it’s a tiny little thing, they don’t know how big it is or what’s involved in flying it.

“You need good eyesight and concentration to keep it in the air,” he said.

Phillip Hughes travelled from Rathfarnham, Dublin to judge the contest.

The score sheet ranges from 1-20 and judges mark competitors in a number of categories, including skill, harmony, precision, difficulty and safety.

“The pilot needs to perform certain manoeuvres in a certain way and it’s how accurate and well presented the manoeuvres are, that’s what we are looking for.

“Though it can be quite subjective to the judge, there are substantial technical guidelines,” he said.

At the competition in Brinny, Hughes is judging the F3N format, a flight put to music of the pilot’s choice.

The idea is to make the helicopter literally ‘dance to the music’.

“It’s not a flight with music, it’s a flight to music. You expect to see the model follow the beat.

“The music ranges anywhere from techno beats to classical music, and when it’s done properly it can be great to watch, it’s so graceful,” he said.

Pilots have three minutes to complete the performance and they can change musical genres within that time frame.

Advertising executive Noel Campion from Cork is recognised as one of the country’s premier pilots in this format.

His T Rex 700 Electric model hovered above the ground for a couple of seconds, before shooting high up with a loud buzzing pitch.

It performed loops and pirouettes as it scooted across the sky, zipping from upright to upside down, dancing on its tail and hovering at different angles at high altitude, all the time bopping along to the beat.

The speed and agility of the model and Campion’s precision control drew sharp intakes of breath from spectators. Little wonder then, that his performance earned him a competitive place representing Ireland. Campion is one of two Irish pilots travelling to Germany for the aero club European Championships, along with Tipperary’s Barry Kennedy and team manager PJ Browne, later this month.

* http://www.corkmodelaeroclub.net/