Model planes and helicopters take off during Sidney fly-in event

SIDNEY, Maine (WABI) - Model planes, helicopters, drones and more were seen flying, soaring and swooping through the air during a Snow Fly-In event in Sidney. The event was hosted by the Kennebec Valley Model Aviators.

“We have a wide variety of different models here; some are store bought while others are handmade. We have people who fly battery powered planes, gas, glow powered, a little bit of everything,” says Vice President Christopher Hall.

Organizers of the club say a variety of environmental factors can affect flight, but during Sunday’s event, they say the weather conditions turned out more than ideal.

“If you have the same kind of floats that you used to fly off of water, and if we get a good hard crust of snow, wheels will work just fine too,” says Hall.

When planes and helicopters are done swooping and zipping through the air, members say there is still plenty to learn if you start building on your own, which includes custom drones and more.

“It’s a different perspective from the planes. I started out decades ago just flying the planes, and that was great. I always wanted to be able to build stuff, and to me that’s a big part of the hobby,” says club member Kenneth Pottle.

It’s not just taking to the skies that makes the hobby appealing. For long time members, there’s also a strong sense of comradery.

“It’s a lot of fun to get so many people together who enjoy the same thing. There’s a wide variety of things here to take interest in. It can be in the building, it can be the setup, the electronics,” says Hall.

“A plane can be fairly simple with a couple of controls, but you can go pretty deep into the configuration, the stabilization, it can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be.”

Kennebec Valley Model Aviators will be hosting another Snow Fly In event in March.

A link to their full event schedule can be viewed here.