Just Plane Fun on Kite Hill

For a decade and a half, Orange County’s model glider fans have congregated at Kite Hill to fly planes they built from kits or from their own plans and materials. Some hobbyists even use computers to design their exotic miniature aircraft.

The pilots range from construction workers to attorneys, young children to doctors. Jack Chambers, “resident guru of the hill,” is an aeronautical engineer known for a lifetime of building gliders for himself and others to fly on Kite Hill. Many of his craft remain airworthy after years of flying.

The hill was donated to the county on condition that it remain reserved for use of remote-control glider enthusiasts. It became part of Laguna Niguel Regional Park, where a new road and restrooms have been built for earthbound pilots at this model-airplane mecca.