Tiny planes make a big impression

The F-20 Tigershark fighter soars across a cloudless blue sky at full throttle, makes a hard left turn and descends for a smooth low pass 5 yards from where Duke Chung is standing.

"Looks pretty good," says the 48-year-old pilot of the sleek radio-controlled (RC) jet. "I just have to tune her up a little and she’ll be in great shape."

Chung, assistant manager for Hawaii Advanced Imaging Institute, a medical imaging clinic, has been building and flying RC aircraft since he was 13 years old and holds a commercial pilot license with instrument and multi-engine ratings. "I wanted to be an airline pilot, but I got into computers and health care and liked it, so I made that my career," he says. "I haven’t flown a real plane in years — it’s too expensive — but I try to fly my RC planes at least three times a month."

When he was a boy, Chung’s favorite pastime was going to Pete’s Modelcraft at Ala Moana Center to check out plastic model plane kits with his dad, who’s also an aviation enthusiast.

"We chose and built the planes together, although he did all of the detailed work because he had the steady, dextrous hands," Chung says. "He told me the history of each plane, and we hung them from the ceiling of my bedroom. We spent a lot of quality time together talking about a subject we both love."

One day, when Chung was 10 years old, they went to Sandy Beach to watch fellow model plane hobbyists pilot their RC aircraft. "I didn’t want to leave!" Chung says. "At the time, seeing those planes climb, dive, roll and fly upside down was the biggest thrill of my life! A few years later I was spending all my spare time and money on them."

The RC models Chung remembers from his childhood in the 1970s required the builder to assemble parts with glue, then sand and paint them. Today many RC aircraft come painted and partially assembled. Most are wood with a painted fiberglass exterior; others are covered with pre-colored plastic. Electronics, pneumatics and power systems must be installed before the planes can fly.

According to Chung, these almost-ready-to-fly planes can take as little as 10 hours or as long as 200 hours to complete, depending on the complexity of the design and mechanical parts. Prices also depend on those factors.

"On the low end a basic prop trainer plane runs around $300," says Chung, who owns 10 RC planes. "An aerobatic or World War II plane can cost $1,500, and jets can go up to $30,000. Designing and building a plane from scratch can take 300 to 800 hours; you have to have time, patience, expertise and attention to detail to create an accurate replica that can fly."

Chung is helping to coordinate pilots for the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor’s Biggest Little Airshow, now in its sixth year. About 20 pilots from five Hawaii RC plane clubs, including himself, will be flying their planes along with one from Canada, two from Japan and five from Florida.

The skies above the museum will be the stage for their exciting show featuring 45 different helicopters, jets, war birds and aerobatic planes. With wingspans of 3 to 8 1/2 feet, most are scale replicas of real aircraft.

Prop planes weigh between 25 and 45 pounds and fly between 100 to 130 mph. Jets weigh between 30 and 50 pounds and fly between 120 and 180 mph. Due to the air show’s time constraints, up to six aircraft will be flying simultaneously for three or four minutes.

In addition, 55 RC and 40 real aircraft will be displayed on the tarmac beside the Pacific Aviation Museum. Air show tickets include admittance to the museum’s Hangar 79, which still bears bullet holes from the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. There, visitors can see the restoration shop where vintage aircraft are being repaired and climb into three helicopters (flight suits and helmets will be provided for picture-taking).

Among the other notable aircraft in the hangar are an F-14 Tomcat akin to those flown in "Top Gun," starring Tom Cruise, and a P-40 Flying Tigers Warhawk, an illustration of which is incorporated into the museum’s logo. More than 14,000 of these fighters were built during World War II.

Attendees can also enjoy ono food, a beer garden, prize giveaways, stations where they can build model planes and a Kids’ Zone with rides, bouncers and a climbing rock wall.

Center stage will be the RC aircraft. "I love aviation and gadgets, and RC planes combine both of those interests," Chung says. "Transforming a pile of parts into a beautiful plane is really rewarding. And seeing it take off and blast by at 180 miles per hour — that’s exciting, chicken-skin!"

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.