Radio club takes to the skies with RC airplanes

A rubber band can stretch, inflict pain and apparently change lives. A rubber band provided a life-altering experience for now 79-year-old Carl Terpenning.\n“I started building my first model about 72 years ago, when I was about 8 years old,” Terpenning said. “(It was) just a little rubber band model that you wind up and preflight.”\nBut since creating his first model airplane, Terpenning now boasts a collection of more than 20 model airplanes of great variety and is a member of the Monroe County Radio Control Club. The club, according to its Web site, is a group of more than 40 members who fly a wide array of model aircraft.\nTerpenning grew up in Deposit, N.Y., and attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in King’s Point, N.Y. After graduating with a degree in marine engineering, Terpenning went to work for General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y., but was later transferred to Shelbyville, Ind. \nHe decided to leave General Electric and move into business, and purchased the Old Classic Bowling Lanes. Now Terpenning owns what has become the New Classic Bowling Lanes as well as the neighboring Western Skateland.\nThough remote control flying has changed dramatically since the days of Terpenning’s first rubber-band-propelled model, he still prefers slower moving planes, specifically gliders. Simplicity isn’t all that drives his preference, however.\n“I’m 80 years old,” Terpenning said. “They (gliders) go slow enough so I can keep up with them.”\nFlying, Terpenning says, is truly an art form. The objective in flying a glider, for example, is keeping the plane in the air as long as possible. This is not always the easiest task.\n“It’s the skill of the pilot to see how long he can stay up, if he can catch some thermals and so forth,” Terpenning said.\nMembers of the RC Club meet every Sunday afternoon to fly their planes. While these meetings are not competitive, other events, such as their annual air show are. Competitors can participate in a number of events, including completing flight patterns and “World War I vintage flying,” when the members fly models of World War I airplanes. \nWhile Terpenning considers himself more of a “fun pilot” than a skilled one, he still enjoys the thrill of a successful flight.\n“I’ve had ’em stay up 15 or 20 minutes on an exceptional day,” Terpenning said. “Out in the field I had one up one day and there were some hawks gliding around and they were obviously riding a thermal. I put it (the plane) right in the circle with them and I flew around with them and had a heck of a flight.”\nTerpenning’s love of aviation didn’t stop at simply watching the skies. In 1963 he earned his pilot’s license after spending three years rebuilding an Aeronca Chief plane that was purchased for $50. He later sold the plane and bought a Cessna 172. He has also owned a Cessna 175 and two J-3 Cubs.\n“In my little J-3 Cub I can go up there and bar holes in the sky and relax and just have a great time,” Terpenning said. “I don’t get any place because it flies so slow, but it’s a relaxing plane to fly.”\nToday, Terpenning focuses more on RC flying, as actual piloting is becoming increasingly difficult. He sold his last plane, a J-3 Cub, about five years ago.\n“At my age, they’re all a thing of the past,” Terpenning said.\nThe thrill, however, is something he will never forget.\n“It’s a real thrill, something you can enjoy all your life,” Terpenning said. “It’s just a tremendous feeling of freedom.”