Model aircraft enthusiasts always ready for takeoffs
Holding his large model plane Ken Gutwein of Glen Cove, gets advice from Ken Casser of Manhasset, holding remote control. (Oct. 28, 2010) Credit: Michael E. Ach
It was over casual dinner conversation in 1988 that Ken Casser first heard of an aerodrome in Port Washington - an unvarnished, open field for flying remote-controlled model airplanes and helicopters.
The next morning, Casser, now 60, drove to the grassy field - a former landfill owned by the Town of North Hempstead - tucked behind West Shore Road, where a sliver of asphalt serves as a miniature runway. There, he found his passion.
"I saw the guys flying and that was it," he recalled.
The Manhasset resident has since devoted countless hours and dollars to building and flying model aircraft. "It's only limited by your imagination, your time and your checkbook," Casser said on a recent sunny morning at the field.
He still remembers his first plane, a $65 kit that took about four months to build. Since then, he's spent upward of $1,500 on helicopters, which are more expensive and costly to maintain. "Every crash is at least 135 bucks," he explained.
Others share Casser's passion and operate their model aircraft at a smattering of aerodromes across Long Island. They are grown men, many retired or nearing the end of long careers, yet being at the field brings a childlike glint to their eyes. Remote-control boxes in hand, the pilots maneuver their scale-model planes and helicopters into dips and spins that require practice to perfect.
The hobbyists who frequent the Port Washington field arrive every morning no matter the weather, carrying tools, batteries, coffee for themselves and gasoline for their prized toys. But they are quick to say that these planes and choppers are not mere playthings.
"It's like oil that keeps me going," said Mike Krug, 50, of Manhasset. "It relieves stress."
A permit is required to fly at the aerodromes. There's always a "controller" on site, who has flown at least a year with a senior permit, which allows the pilot to fly the model aircraft solo. Permit prices vary. At the Port Washington field, town residents pay $50 per year. A one-year permit at the Nassau County-owned aerodrome in Wantagh costs $20. Some fields also require fliers to be paid members of local clubs.
Everyone has his own reason for devoting time and money to the hobby. For some who are fascinated with flying, it's the closest they'll get to the controls of a cockpit.
"I've been an aviation buff my entire life," said Eric Sandberg, 60, a retired postal worker from Kings Park. "I never made enough money to buy a real plane. This fits the bill."
For Paul Yovino of Roslyn Heights, it's a way to perpetuate a father-son bond that started when he was a 4-year-old in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His family moved to Long Island when he was 10, and Yovino and his dad started flying radio-controlled planes at the Port Washington field when it opened in 1975.
His father, Phillip, is now 90, blind and no longer able to fly the model planes. "He misses this hobby more than anything you can imagine," said Yovino, 59, a retired Verizon technician.
He and some of the two dozen or so regulars in Port Washington also missed the hobby when the field closed for two years because of methane leaks. It reopened at the end of October.
"It's good to smell that fuel again," said Joe Amoroso, 71. "I missed the guys a lot and I missed the hobby."
For Amoroso and many others, the hobby became a passion later in life. He started in his 40s after years of piloting small, private planes. "This was a way to get back into flying in some way," Amoroso said.
Marty Hoffert, 73, of Great Neck and Lloyd Rothschild, 91, of Lake Success, also began flying remote-controlled aircraft in their golden years.
"When I was a kid, I built model airplanes," said Hoffert, professor emeritus of physics at New York University. He began flying model aircraft in his late 60s.
Rothschild, a retired plastic bottle manufacturer, was 75 when he took up the hobby. "I like to build things," he said, leaning back into a lounge chair and watching Hoffert control a helicopter with help from a more experienced flier.
Roy Coniglio, 59, president of the Hempstead Harbor Aero Modeler's Society in Port Washington, said flying model aircraft inspired him to study engineering at the University of Bridgeport. The industrial designer from Port Washington said he started the hobby to escape a troubled youth in New York City.
"This hobby saved my life," he said. "It gave me direction."
Because it requires a lot of time, Coniglio explained that many members don't become regulars at the aerodrome until after retirement.
Ray Marmara, 59, of Glenwood Landing, reached his goal to retire from a career as a graphic designer before turning 60, and now he goes to the field almost daily.
His plane operates on glow fuel, made for model engines, which he said can be messy. Marmara predicts the next generation of model pilots will use mostly electricity-powered aircraft, and he plans to be there for the change.
"Electric is the wave of the future," he said. "I've got to read up on them."
Local flying clubs
Here's a sampling of model aircraft flying clubs on Long Island:
Hempstead Harbor Aero Modelers Society
(Port Washington)
Contact: Roy Coniglio, 516-883-8062
hhams.org
Nassau Flyers
Contact: Archie Defendini, 516-510-7378
nassauflyersrc.com
Meroke (Wantagh)
Contact: Ted Evangelatos, president@meroke.com
meroke.com
Whitman Flyers (Bethpage)
Contact:
coachman21@yahoo.com
whitmanflyers.com
Silent Electric Flyers of Long Island
Contact: Tom Hunt,
tomhunt@optonline.net
sefli.org
Long Island Silent Flyers (Syosset)
lisf.org
Bayport Aerodrome
Society
Contact: Stuart Bain, sbain@emediaofny.com
