THUNDER BAY — The Lakehead Aeromodellers have a new plane, which they hope will bring more people into the hobby.
The new club trainer plane is meant to give the public a chance to give model airplane flying a try without having to spend the money on building their own planes, which can be expensive.
“We're very much community-driven and we want to grow our club membership and we feel that a lot of people are a little bit uncertain about what it takes to fly a model airplane,” said Lakehead Aeromodellers president Andrew Kondor.
“We want to be able to offer that to get people involved and try it out first before perhaps they jump into the hobby with both feet.”
Among the first to fly the new plane was 9-year-old Julie, who said her favourite part of flying was being able to learn and to play.
“I want to fly model airplanes because my dad flies them and I like really fast airplanes,” she said. “And also I really, really like water planes.”
Kondor said that it was great to be able to show a young enthusiast how to fly the new plane.
“We're always very inspired to see, you know, sort of the young generation to come out, you know, that's what it's really all about, you know, the future of this hobby is really with the youth,” he said.
“The more we can get out here, try flying and maybe inspire them to become pilots in the future, the better.”
The club is a great way to build relationships, according to Kondor, who said that all of the members are always excited to head out to the airfield and fly with company.
“Well, we look up and if it's a nice day and maybe we're either not at work or we're on holiday, we decide, let's go,” he said. “Sometimes we'll even come out before work just to get a couple of flights in.”
In order to find out more about the club or how to try out the new club trainer plane, visit the Lakehead Aeromodellers website.
