HOW TO GO
What: Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club’s Flying Circus
When: August 6-7, 2011 from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where Butler County Regional Airport
The circus comes to town this weekend. This one doesn’t have any elephants or clowns, but it does have a flying reptile and a space shuttle that still flies.
It’s the Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club’s Flying Circus, which will launch two identical shows Saturday and Sunday at the Butler County Airport, also known as Logan Field. The 51st circus features about 200 planes, flown by 50 pilots, many of whom are from Butler County, such as Tom Burdin of West Chester Twp.
“We like to stress that this is a chance for people to have a family outing without spending the family fortune,” he said.
The fortunes are mostly spent by the pilots, who pump quite a lot of money into their flying machines. The planes can cost anywhere from $110 for a basic model to $2,000 for a larger plane. And if you’re flying a jet, the cost can soar to $10,000, said Mike Hoffmeister of the White Oak area of Cincinnati.
Mike Slaughter of Greenhills said the fuel can cost up to $20 a gallon. One particular aircraft, the show’s space shuttle, can cost $100 to fill up. But with the shuttle, it’s easy to understand why.
“It’s gotten bigger and more powerful over the years. It has 85 pounds of thrust,” said its pilot, Henry Kim of Springfield Twp. in Hamilton County.“She steers like a bullet for the firs few minutes, Then it flies like a regular plane and lands like a glider,” said Kim, who’s flown about a dozen shuttles over the years.
The show features a lot of pyrotechnics in reenactments of the Pearl Harbor attack and the Doolittle raid, which bookended World War II, Slaughter said.The planes themselves take a fair amount of punishment, sometimes by design, sometimes by accident. “We like to do things that are hazardous to the planes — safely hazardous.” Slaughter said.
Burdin said “What we don’t crash Saturday we fly Sunday.”
Proceeds from the event will go to the Cincinnati Spina Bifida Association.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.
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