Model aircrafts are big draw at Mount Pleasant Summer Festival
The Mid Michigan Radio Control Helicopter Association was such a success at the 2012 Mount Pleasant Summer Festival that they were invited back again this year.
The club, which is sanctioned under the Academy of Model Aeronautics, attracted hundreds of people again this year from June 6 through June 8. Along with doing flight demonstrations, MMRCHA also had flight simulators to give people the opportunity to test their radio control aircraft skills.
Originally, the club just included helicopter models, but later expanded to include airplane models, as well.
“We’ve had so much success, and our club has been so positively received in the community,” club president Randy Gibson said. “Like here (at the festival), they’ve invited us to come back here again and we get to spend our weekend, essentially, playing with our RC models.”
Yale sophomore Nick Franzel and Capac senior Nate Kilgor said they were drawn to the MMRCHA tent because of the flight simulators. Both of them have been interested in RC models since they were young.
“All of the small parts moving is the coolest part,” Kilgor said. "Just the way everything is compact. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into them (the engineering aspect), which is just really interesting.”
MMRCHA was founded in 2010 and participates in many local events to promote the sport of model aviation.
“We do it (events) because we’ve been fortunate enough to grow up flying and have fun with this stuff,” Gibson said. “And when we see kids come by, it gives them an opportunity to learn about something like this. It gives us a chance to share all the fun we had and bring some new blood into the hobby.”
Gibson’s interest in model aircrafts also started at a young age.
“I started as a kid,” he said. “My parents used to take me to this little hobby shop and I would buy plastic model rockets, and I saw a guy in there one day and he brought in his RC airplane to show the people who work there. I saw that and was hooked.”
Along with being the president of the club, Gibson is also a race car engineer.
“You see a pretty interesting relationship with people who are into models; they end up going into sciences and engineering and stuff like that,” he said. “They start wanting to know what makes an airplane fly and their interest grows from there.”
Gibson said another major component of the club is giving back to the community. Last year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, MMRCHA did an indoor flying event at Finch Fieldhouse, which helped benefit Toys for Tots.
Each pilot had to bring in at least a $10 toy, and MMRCHA ended up filling up three boxes of toys and raised a couple hundred dollars in cash.
“We love it because it benefits the kids,” Gibson said. “It’s our chance to give back.”
