Lawton Area Fun Flyer Society’s Year of Success - 2009/12

66 MODEL AVIATION
Lawton Area Fun Flyer
Society’s Year of Success
An aerial view from LAFFS member Kris Frost’s airplane shows the
completed field, 450 x 45-foot runway, taxiways, and pit area. Club
members mow the field perimeters; the large mowed area at the
bottom is for flying gliders. Smaller rectangles at the lower right are
model helipads. The large mowed area to the left is on the west side of
the field, and it is used for flying in the evening when the sun is a
problem. The entire field is laid out in a north-south direction, to
accommodate prevailing Oklahoma winds.
by Larry Kruse
& Flying Fields
F i n d i n g K e e p i n g
FOR SOME pERiOd of time, flying RC in the Lawton-Fort Sill
community of southwest Oklahoma was an informal affair. Pilots
would show up at the old modeling field located on the Fort Sill
Army base, put their airplanes in the air when they felt like it, and
go home when they were finished.
It wasn’t always that way, though. In the 1980s and early ’90s,
there was an AMA chartered club in Lawton that was fairly active,
and it even sponsored some fun-flys and contests. Age, military
deployment, a mobile population base, and waning interest took a
toll as the club disbanded, to be replaced by individual RC pilots
who flew from the Fort Sill strip at their leisure.
That scenario changed radically in late 2007. The US Congress
passed the Base Realignment and Closure Act, which expanded Fort
Sill’s troop-training role. Within a few months, the base’s officials
declared the old flying site off-limits.
Then in December of that year, the field was torn up to make room
for new base construction projects. The several modelers who flew
regularly at that location were literally homeless.
At that point, a number of things could have happened—the most
likely was that model flying in the Lawton-Fort Sill area would
languish even further because of the lack of a flying field. However,
that was not to be.
Ken isaac, one of the more active modelers and a community
moderator for the RC Universe Web site, took it upon himself to
contact as many area aeromodelers as he could. He invited them to a
meeting at his computer shop, to discuss what could be done.
Surprisingly, more than 20 modelers showed up at the initial
gathering, about which they learned by word-of-mouth
communication. Many of the fliers had never met and did not know
each other, even though they had been sharing the same runway at
different times.
Aeromodeling prosperity in the heart of Oklahoma
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December 2009 67
A four-wheeler was used to drag the runway fabric—Petromat—
into position and keep it flat and tight, as workers hammered turf
staples into the soil. The Wichita Mountains are in the
background.
The center-section of the runway material is almost installed,
while rolls of fabric off to either side will soon be unrolled and
pulled into place.
A tight chalk line helps keep seams straight as one of the outside
layers of Petromat is stapled to the center piece. Each fabric roll is
15 feet wide, giving the finished runway a comfortable 45-foot
width. Club members worked side by side, up and down the line,
hammering turf staples.
Five-year-old Tyler Strupp knows how to handle a hammer too!
His dad, Trevor, supervises. Trevor’s wife and family came to
assist in the laying the LAFFS club’s new runway.
The main runway is close to being in place. Smaller fabric rolls off
to t he side wil l be us ed for taxiw ays and a p it box. P articula r
attention was paid to the ends and the corners of the Petromat,
which would be exposed to water and wind.
Photos by Larry Kruse and Kris Frost
There was a wide range of discussion topics at that meeting, but it
ultimately came down to the need to form a club and work
cooperatively to obtain a flying site. AMA’s flying site assistance and
information services became part of that discussion. Jerry Knight, a
local small-business owner, volunteered to make contacts about
property that might be available.
At a second meeting, in early 2008, Jerry reported that 80 acres of
ground just west of the city of Lawton could be leased for a five-year
period at a nominal annual fee. But he cautioned that the land was a
rough pasture and that a great deal of work would need to be done to
turn it into a flying site.
Excited by the prospect, individuals at that meeting committed to
form an AMA chartered club and pledged enough money to cover the
cost of the lease for the first year. They also began calling in favors
from their friends and acquaintances, to volunteer help with the dirt
work and leveling that would need to be accomplished.
In February 2008, good fortune smiled on the newly chartered club,
which was resurrected under the old club’s name: the Lawton Area
Fun Flyer Society, or LAFFS. That luck came from a neighboring club
in Elk City, Oklahoma, which is slightly more than 100 miles away.
The Elk City Flying Aces had decided to replace the runway that its
members had been using for several years. The runway covering,
called Petromat, is a heavy polypropylene fabric that is used primarily
between layers of asphalt in road construction. The Elk City group
simply rolled up the old surface, which was still in useful condition,
and laid down a new runway.
The old runway surface became a gift to the LAFFS, and its
members jumped at the opportunity to install it. As the dirt work and
leveling of the new flying field was being completed, several of the
pilots drove to Elk City and trucked the rolls of runway surface back
to the new site.
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Ken Isaac, who had become the LAFFS
first president, scheduled a club workday as
soon as the rolls of Petromat arrived at the
field. The turnout was amazing; nearly every
member of the new club’s 28-person roster
showed up—some with their families in tow.
The task of laying out a runway that was
450 feet long and 45 feet wide was difficult.
The main challenge was to seamlessly anchor
the several pieces of runway fabric to the
ground and to each other.
To accomplish that job, more than 6,000
6-inch wire turf staples were driven through
the fabric and into the soil. In the meantime,
the heavy material was tightened and
smoothed, in anticipation of the first takeoff
and landing of a club member’s model.
Once the Petromat was down and secured,
a couple of additional workdays were
planned. A barrier fence was put up for
spectators, and the old runway markings were
painted out.
Ron Hipp, LAFFS first vice president,
volunteered to install a new lockable entrance
gate. Jerry Chinnow, another member,
fabricated and installed a protected bulletin
board for club announcements, contact
information, and items for sale.
Steve Jakubiszyn, a club member, built
and donated six heavy-duty starting stands
and a transmitter impound station. He also
constructed an access ramp to a storage trailer
that Corky Fain, another LAFFS member,
acquired.
Throughout the past year and the entire
process of forming a club, acquiring a field,
and getting it to a serviceable stage, the key
words for the LAFFS have been “volunteer”
and “donate.” Plans for the future include
replacing the Petromat runway as it ages,
building shaded areas for spectators and
pilots, and grading and leveling a shorter
crosswind runway for days when the winds
are not from prevailing directions.
For now, though, the LAFFS just
celebrated its first year of transitioning from
nothing to something. It is thankful for the
hard work, dedication, and selflessness of its
members and their families—and the
generosity of the Elk City Flying Aces.
The LAFFS has proved itself to be a
unique and special group, whose members
are not content to sit on the sidelines and
count on someone or some agency to provide
for them. They are capable of using existing
resources, including the AMA, to help them
accomplish their goals.
Although the second year of flying from
the LAFFS field might be more pleasurable
than the inaugural for the club’s charter
members, nothing will compare to that first
year of unparalleled success!
To learn more about the LAFFS, go to the
club’s Web site. MA
Larry Kruse
[email protected]
Sources:
LAFFS
www.lawtonareafunflyers.org