By John Crook
Special to the Observer
A vintage, four-engine Imperial Airways flying boat was sighted recently over Shuswap Lake.
This beautiful craft may have looked real, but was one of many radio-controlled scale models visiting the area.
During a wonderfully sunny and calm week at Adams Lake First Nation, at Sandy Point Resort, the Spring Float Fly, an annual gathering of spectacular and novel radio-controlled aircraft, hummed along the shore. This aerial treat, which has been welcomed by the Band for over 45 years, is unique and well worth seeing.
The Shuswap Lake Aero Modelers (aka SLAM – nothing to do with their landing skills), involves large scale, airworthy models of float planes or flying boats lovingly constructed their owners, many of whom used to fly the real types they now fly as models.
Some of the radio-control pilots share a passion for researching the details on their models, building flying examples and aviation in general.
Model aircraft to be seen included several De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers, DHC-6 Twin Otters; a Noorduyn Norseman; Caribou Cubs; a beautiful Maule; a Flip Flyer replica which was built in limited numbers to raise funds for a Royal Airforce veteran; and a novel delta-shaped oddity, the “Northstar,” which can take off from the water and fly at over 150 miles per hour (240 km/hr). There were many more of various descriptions.
Model flying in the Shuswap was started on dry land by the Grindrod Airforce around 1974 in a farmer’s field. It accommodated a short land-based airstrip for radio controlled, fixed-wing model flying. Eventually this group evolved into SLAM, which invited model aviators from across B.C., including participants from Sicamous, Enderby, Vernon, Kamloops, Kelowna, Surrey and Vancouver Island. One Albertan from the Edmonton Radio Control Society even brought his Beaver in mock CAF Air Sea Rescue colours, but that is another story.
Across Canada and the North, the Model Aeronautics Association of Canada (MAAC) has over 8,830 members. They fly from about 450 registered landing sites across Canada.
Read more: Seasoned North Okanagan-Shuswap pilots maintain formation as the Vernon Snowflakes
Read more: VIDEO: Air traffic over Shuswap Lake surges as model aircraft take to the sky
The models range from off the shelf store-bought Styrofoam ready-to-fly model kits, to immaculate, hand-built scale reproductions of vintage aircraft which often have some connection to the builders’ flying careers. Some models are purely one-off designs invented by the builders. Builders need to become skilled in using materials like balsa wood, carbon fiber or fiberglass construction, as well as foam and heat shrinkable coverings to make strong but very light airframes. Getting the correct balance in the model is critical so the aircraft will fly properly with the radio servos and gas or battery engines installed.
The engines range from small glow plug motors to two-stroke engines of over two horse power. They have a certain nostalgic and almost realistic hum as they take to the sky. More recently, lithium battery-powered models can fly for up to 10 or 15 minutes.
The power ratio of the small engines in relation to many of the airframes is much greater than real aircraft. As a result, unusual stunts like a float plane doing loops and roles is not impossible in the hands of an experienced pilot, and quite novel to see. Imagine a real de Havilland Canada Beaver float plane trying aerobatics! Not something any sane pilot would try.
The skills involved in building their models and learning to fly them off the water, or mastering aerobatics, are quite something.
The attention to detail on the models is incredible. On a model Imperial Airways’ four-engine flying boat, called “Cambria,” you will see rivets where they are on the real thing. These apparently were painstaking applied one-by- one by the model builder with dabs of white glue. They look real and have been designed to be water proof.
Some of the larger models can weigh between 50 to 150 pounds (23 kg to 68 kg).
The model aircraft can be controlled by a few basic radio channels for elevator pitch, rudders for initiating turns, ailerons for banking the aircraft and throttles for the engine. On more elaborate aircraft, additional channels might include wing flaps, lights, water rudders on the floats, water bombing doors, multi-engine coordination, undercarriage operation, and other functions which make the sport realistic.
Radio-controlled model aircraft are not to be confused with the growing flying drone industry. Model aircraft fly within strict line-of-sight areas and require special pilots’ licenses to fly. For example, they cannot fly more than 400 feet above the ground or water surface.
New regulation aims to make radio-controlled flight more secure, but there are many policy elements affecting the long-standing hobby which require refinement and hopefully modification to accommodate the differences between recreational model flying and the broader drone safety requirements as drone technology and applications evolve.
The next SLAM Fall Classic event is scheduled for September 5 to 10 at Sandy Point. If you can’t wait until the fall to chat with the pilots about their fascinating hobby, you can see more radio-controlled model aircraft this month at the Salmon Arm Regional Airport Emergency Expo on June 25 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Have a chat with the pilots. Who knows, maybe you might take up the sport and move on to fly the real thing.
Below is a video from a 2022 Float Fly event at Sandy Point.
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