Published: May 18, 2008 09:41 pm            

PARKS: Dedicated to having fun

GLENWOOD — Members of the Princeton Area Radio Kontrol Society have an effective motto for their organization.

“We’re dedicated to having fun,” Pat Davis, secretary-treasurer of the organization said.

In spite of rain showers most of the day on Sunday, P.A.R.K.S. members demonstrated their dedication to the art of having fun during the final day of their regular two-day “Float Fly,” over the lake at Glenwood Park.

“My wife has accused me of not being smart enough to come in out of the rain,” Davis said as he prepared his helicopter for flight between showers. “We like flying radio controlled planes and helicopters. We’re a small club, but people from other clubs come to our float fly events.

“We try not to over-regulate it,” Davis said. “We keep it simple and make it fun. If it’s fun, we’ll do it.”

Davis, 53, of Princeton is a machinist who has been flying radio controlled airplanes and helicopters for 18 years, but P.A.R.K.S., president Tony Boothe, 51, of Princeton, has been flying radio controlled planes even longer.

Boothe, who works for United Parcel Service, is a skilled radio-controlled craft operator. With the help of Mark Johnston, the club’s webmaster, Boothe started his radio controlled plane, put it in the water at the boat launch ramp and took scores of passes above the water, executing big barrel rolls, putting his plane into stalls and operating his craft at top speeds a few feet above the surface of the water.

“I lost a helicopter out there last year,” Davis said pointing to the middle of the lake. “I had the kind of a mechanical failure that you don’t like to have happen over the water. If it happens over land, you can fix it. We looked for a long time, but we couldn’t even find it. I parked it out there. It’s sleeping with the fishes.”

Boothe said that people involved in the radio controlled hobby can participate in local events like the P.A.R.K.S., float and fly, or pursue interests in detailed scale models or competitions. “The planes we have out here today can take off and land on water,” he said. The club will host two more float and fly events at Glenwood Park this season, on June 21-22, and Sept. 13-14. “We fly almost every weekend from our field at PikeView High School,” he said.

“We enjoy the hobby,” Boothe said. “All of us are willing to help anyone who is interested in the hobby. We help them set up a plane or helicopter and get them started. People come from other clubs to participate in these events.”

Davis said the organization’s officers have enough experience to help people get into the hobby. “The Society officers have almost 80 years of experience,” Davis said.

“And they’re not getting any better at it,” Johnston joked. Johnston, 34, works for Verizon and has 13 years of experience in the hobby.

P.A.R.K.S., will be conducting a pair of membership blitzes this summer at the Four Seasons Mens Expo, June 7-8, at the National Guard Armory in Brushfork, and later in the summer at the Mercer County Fair in Gardner. All events sponsored by the organization are drug and alcohol-free. There is a one-time initiation fee of $10, dues are $5 per month and all members must join the Academy of Model Aeronautics.

Davis said that prospective radio controlled hobbyists can purchase an “Almost Ready to Fly” plane starting at as low as $300, and a starting level helicopter for from $700-$800, but added that the prices start there and go up. For more information, visit the society’s web site at (www.flyparks.org).

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

        

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