The buzz they get keeps radio-guided aircraft fans flying and flying

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 29, 2002 by Dru Wilson

Zoom! Chuk, chuk, chuk. Zoom!

Like a giant bee on hormones, a helicopter buzzes across the blue sky, then zips down and hovers a few feet off the ground - upside down - before flipping right-side up. Then it zooms away over the weed-grown wheat field, leaving a feathery trail of smoke behind.

It's not a maneuver approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, but then again, pilot Bob Motazedi isn't FAA- approved, either.

Nor does he need to be. He's flying a radio-controlled scale model, one of the hottest remote-control hobbies going these days.

Radio-controlled cars and boats also have a following, but aircraft are the biggest sellers at one Colorado Springs shop, Custom Hobbies, and seem to be the predominant choice in Colorado, which has 29 organized flying clubs listed by the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Three are in Colorado Springs, with another in Manitou Springs and one in Caon City.

"It's a hobby and a sport," says Motazedi.

Or an obsession, depending on who's doing the flying.

Motazedi has built a 700-foot landing strip and operates a "flight school" behind his home on 54 acres in Douglas County, just north of the El Paso County line.

He travels to several flying competitions each year and, like a race car driver, has his own corporate sponsors with logos emblazoned on his shirt and hat.

In college, he earned money to support his hobby by teaching friends to fly the models. He's written three guides to radio- controlled flying.

And he and fellow flier Larry Falsetta spend hours a day at Motazedi's field with their aircraft buzzing overhead.

They admit to being addicted.

"It's my life," says Motazedi, who has won championships in national aerobatic competitions for his helicopter maneuvers.

Falsetta describes the feeling he gets as "three quarts adrenaline, two pints nerve and several gallons of satisfaction."

But there are a few drawbacks that budding RC pilots should consider.

First, it's not something most people can do in their back yards, because regulations prohibit flying over people or buildings. RC aircraft require a lot of open space, so flying fields are far out of town, rather than in a neighborhood park. Motazedi, in fact, had to get special permission to do flights over Memorial Park this weekend during the Balloon Classic.

Nor is it cheap: Prices for kits range from $100 to $3,000 for a plane and a few hundred more for the accessories, like a radio- control unit and tools.

And then, the helicopters and airplanes require some assembly.

Finally, you just don't walk outside and start flying. It takes about 10 hours of instruction to learn to handle the take-offs, landings and in-flight maneuvers, Motazedi says.

"It is not something you want to try on your own," Falsetta says. "There's a saying that cockiness kills planes."

To avoid crashes during flight training, students and instructors use dual controls that allow the instructor to take over if the plane appears to be headed for disaster.

People who learned to gently finesse the stick controls on remote- controlled cars can probably learn to fly easier than people who play video games, which require quick and punchy movements, Motazedi says. A heavy hand can quickly put an aircraft's nose into the ground.

Ironically, the people who generally have the most problems learning are professional pilots, says Falsetta, who has had a pilot's license since college.

"There are captains with thousands of hours flying a commercial airplane who can't fly RC," he says.

That's because they have trouble flying from a different perspective - outside the plane instead of inside - he says. "Everything is done backwards."

The key to flying an RC aircraft is hand-eye coordination, Motazedi says - and being involved in the hobby for 36 years has certainly boosted his: A laser surgeon known as "Dr. Bob," he says it helped develop his dexterity for performing delicate cosmetic laser procedures.

While there are women who fly model aircraft, it's mostly a guy thing, says Motazedi's wife, Vicki, who learned to fly but isn't quite as smitten with the hobby as her husband.

"At least I never have to wonder where he is," she says. "He is either out behind the house flying his planes or in the basement working on them."

FLY FACTS

Local clubs (Most fly early on weekends)

Pikes Peak Radio Control Club, flying field east of Colorado Springs on Judge Orr Road; contact William Sanderman, 531-9190, or wsanderman@pcisys.net.

Colorado Model Aviators, RC flying field off Falcon Highway; contact Dave Smith, 481-4088.

Magnificent Mammoths, RC flying field on Hanover Road near Peyton Highway, contact David Hoffmann, 264-1210 or davidhoffman@msn.com

Fremont County RC Club, flying field south of Fremont County Airport off Highway 67; contact Charles Pohl, (719) 275-6607 or ccjspohl@aol.com or Joe Bergin, (719) 275-4621 or e-mail TheitaandJoe@aol.com.

Magnificent Mountain Men, Manitou Springs, free flight (uncontrolled after takeoff) aircraft, flying field at Lowery bombing range south of DIA, contact Jerry Murphy, 685-3766 or Jmurphy@agilent.com.