Just Plain Fun : With Feet Firmly on the Ground, Condors Take to the Air

After a long overseas flight at the controls of a Delta Airlines jetliner, one of John (Bud) Brittenham’s favorite ways to unwind is to grab the stick of another aircraft soon after his plane touches down.

But instead of returning to the skies in a private plane or jet, Brittenham, a former U. S. Navy A-7 Corsair fighter pilot, can be found at Camarillo Regional Park at the controls of his custom-made miniature radio-controlled airplane.

A four-year member of the Channel Islands Condors, a group of model-plane aviators, Brittenham said he loves flying the little, high-tech craft that can take months of construction time, scads of money--and only seconds to crash.

“I’ve found it to be a real stress reducer and a great deal of fun,” said Brittenham, a Newbury Park resident. “Although I have to admit the first time I took one up I was pretty nervous. But it’s been a ball since then.”

The Condors are one of about half a dozen such organizations operating in Ventura County.

Another club, the Conejo Valley Flyers Inc., operates out of Newbury Park and will be staging an air show in conjunction with the Conejo Valley Days on Sunday at the club’s field off Rancho Conejo Road.

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Other clubs include the Simi Valley Flyers, the Flying Circus, which flies from a field on the Santa Clara River bed, and the Ventura Comets, which operates out of a small field adjacent to Lake Casitas.

But by far, the Condors are the largest such club in the county, boasting a membership of nearly 200 plane enthusiasts.

Condors President Daryl Bergstrom said the 10-year-old organization has operated out of the Camarillo Regional Park site known as Condor Field since 1991. Once a visitor passes through a gate and down a rocky dirt road, the neatly cut grass infield comes into view.

Just past the infield is a precisely laid-out asphalt airstrip that resembles those used by real aircraft, only much smaller at a length of 500 feet.

“We have tried to make this a place where people will enjoy participating in the hobby,” Bergstrom said. “We have put a lot of thought, time, money and sweat into the place.”

About 10 feet back from the edge of the runway--bedecked with white paint showing its center point as well as landing and takeoff thresholds--are five cages, or pits, from which club members command their aircraft. The club’s pilots use high-tech radio transmitters, with liquid crystal digital displays, on federally approved frequencies to fly the airplanes.

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While beginners concentrate on the basics--takeoff, level flight and landing--the more experienced club members whip their planes through vicious barrel and snap rolls, “Cuban-8s,” screaming dives, and climbs and other maneuvers. Speeds range from 40 m.p.h. to more than 100 m.p.h., depending on the aircraft’s class, design and engine size.

“Once you get comfortable with the controls, you can really have some fun out there,” said Hugh O’Connell of Oxnard. “It seems like I’ve been involved in this hobby most of my adult life and I keep coming back.”

But O’Connell said that although you can buy ready-to-fly aircraft from retailers, a large part of the enjoyment comes from building the aircraft by hand. Construction of the planes, which have wingspans ranging from two to 10 feet wide, can take months and sometimes years to complete.

Although from the outside the little planes appear deceptively simple, an examination of the electronics found inside shows that, like their life-sized counterparts, the planes are complex in design and engineering.

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And, like other electronics-based pastimes, the hobby isn’t cheap.

According to Don McEntyre, owner of Blue Max Hobbies in Oxnard, beginners can purchase pre-assembled aircraft for about $400, but prices can easily escalate with the pilot’s desire to go faster or perform increasingly sophisticated aerial moves.

The aircraft’s engines, which range in size from very small to the size of a chain-saw motor, gulp a high-powered fuel mixture of alcohol, nitroglycerin and methane that typically sells for about $15 a gallon.

“Flying radio-controlled airplanes is a hobby for people with patience,” McEntyre said. “Because of the expense associated with it, you don’t often see a lot of kids participating by themselves. It’s more a father-son kind of thing.”

McEntyre said that, on average, most beginners need about 10 hours of flight time under the supervision of an instructor to master the basics.

On a recent Saturday at the field, Joe Hildalgo, one of the club’s newest members, was anxiously doing last-minute preflight checks before he started the engine of his Falcon 56 trainer and taxied the bright yellow plane out to the flight line.

With a club instructor at his side, the Newbury Park illustrator began his takeoff roll and, seconds later, was airborne for the first time. After about 10 minutes of flight and some lessons in basic navigation, Hildalgo carefully brought the little craft back to earth with only a few bumps on landing.

“It was a mixture of a lot of fun and fear,” Hildalgo said, smiling. “I’m really glad I didn’t run it into the ground.”