Frazier takes Flight: Model planes, a dying hobby
EL PASO, Texas - In a deserted area in NE El Paso, the El Paso Radio Controllers meet every weekend to fly their various model planes. Each plane varies in shape, size, color, material, and level of expertise required to fly them safely and properly. But the men and women in this club are worried that their beloved hobby will fall through the cracks of the younger generations who don't know about the hobby.
"The hobby is not as popular as it used to be but that's one of the things that we're trying to change right now is trying to get more youth involved," said Mike Hicks, the president of the club.
"You see a lot of kids now that would rather be on a simulator or on an Xbox,"..."but when you teach a kid how to fly, and you show them how the building process starts, they get a spark, and you know you've got them interested," Hicks added.
Getting into the hobby is not very difficult- you can go to any hobby store and buy a small plane to learn how to fly. However, if you live in El Paso, you have an added bonus with the local model plane club! Each weekend, the friendly group of expert model plane flyers meet at their airfield, and would love to teach you how to fly!
"We have a 600 foot runway, and we have a 'no noise restriction', so you can fly anything you want out here. And we do we fly everything, from small airplanes to large to full blown jets, we fly helicopters, drones anything you want to," Hicks stated proudly.
He continued to say, "this is a very family-oriented environment out here. We have moms that fly, kids that fly, everyone's welcome out here."
If you have children, they emphasized the importance of exposing the younger generation to bring them to the airstrip to learn about science and the basics of flying. Our own ABC-7 Meteorologist Katie Frazier had the opportunity to take flight with a small styrofoam trainer plane- perfect for beginners.
If you want to reach out to the El Paso Radio Controllers, you should click here. Or you can join them on the weekends at their runway located at 6121 Stan Roberts Sr Ave.
