As far as the eye can see, there are the rolling hills, trees and blue skies that make up the county's Poor Farm. There are no tall buildings, no power lines and no neighbors to disturb. It's a perfect place to fly model airplanes.

And on a level hilltop on land that's not much good for anything else, the Fairmont Flyers have found a home. For the past 12 years the model airplane club, which has more than 50 members, has flown from Meredith Field. The land has been loaned to the club for its use by Martha Meredith, widow to the late Judge J. Harper Meredith.

Twelve months out of the year, you can usually find a club member out there flying one of their models.

"Just as soon as there's a pretty day - even in the winter," said Fairmont Flyers Club president Jack Constable.

Ranging in age from school children to retirees, the members of the group share one thing in common - the love of flying the friendly skies of Fairmont.

A costly endeavor

Model airplanes can be an expensive hobby, Constable explained. All sanctioned members of the Fairmont Flyers must also be insured members of the American Modeling Association (AMA), a national group that is more than a million strong.

"It takes at least $500 to get started," he said, adding that the amount only includes membership to AMA as well as membership to the Fairmont Flyers Club. After those dues have been paid, the model airplanes can range in price from $400 to $5,000.

And despite the considerable cost, model airplanes can suffer excessive damage when they crash.

"When they crash, why there's nothing left," Constable explained. "Sometimes we don't even find them after they've crashed."

For many, part of the lure of the model airplane hobby comes from the precision of creating the model themselves. The models come as "basically boxes of wood," club member Ken Neoh said.

Mostly crafted from balsa and plywood, the pieces of the body and the plane's wings must be fitted together, leaving a hollow area in the body of the plane for the remote-controlled receiver, engine, gas tank and wires to move the mechanisms of the plane. A plastic canopy that covers the body as well as the wings, adding durability and color, must then be added to the outside of the plane.

"In recent years, they have developed 'almost-ready' planes," Neoh explained. "Skill and craftsmanship are optional these days, which is really a shame because that was a big part of the hobby."

"In theory, the winter months you spend building the plane and the summer months you spend flying the planes," he said. "But there is a whole spectrum of skill levels. For some guys, they enjoy the building. Some guys enjoy the flying. Some enjoy both."

Human control tower

Controlling the transmitter of a model plane is as complicated as performing three tasks at the same time. Hand mechanisms on the transmitter include: the throttle, which is like the accelerator of a car; the rudder, which controls the right and left movements of the plane; and the elevator, which makes the plane go up and down.

"You basically have to control the plane on three axes - up and down, right and left, and roll," club member Mike Jurasko said.

The transmitter, in theory, could control the model plane at a distance of up to a mile. But in order to have sight control over the model, the flyers keep the planes much closer to home.

In fact, sight control is a major component to flying the model planes. Right suddenly becomes left when the direction of the plane is reversed - and depth perception is everything.

"Landing is the hardest thing," Fairmont Flyers Club secretary Dave Schmidt said. "It's actually more difficult than landing a full-scale plane. You actually have to put yourself in the cockpit."

"In the last three to four years, simulation tools have really helped with the learning process," Neoh explained. "It's amazing. You develop something like 'muscle memory' - the hands just go where the hands need to go."

"Younger kids, who are weaned on Nintendo and Sega, just take to it like a duck in water," he added.

"Everything on it operates as a real airplane would," Schmidt said.

"But these ones will do what a real one won't - like flip," club member Don Kincel added. "And how fast can you go with one of these things? You can get them going so fast that the pieces of the plane will start to flutter."

Teaching newcomers

Whenever the gates are unlocked at Meredith Field, the public is welcome to come and watch the club members fly their model planes.

"No matter who it is, these guys will go out of their way to explain flying and even let them try it out for themselves," Schmidt said.

And for those who are interested in joining the club, Constable said that there are several sanctioned members who are trained to train. The most frequently used training method is the "buddy box" system - a cord connected between two transmitters. When the novice flyer gets into trouble, a switch can be released and the trainer can take over the flight to save the plane.

New flyers should never be discouraged, either. Constable said that learning to fly models takes time, even for pilots trained to fly full-scale airplanes.