Brandon Twp.-Ron Leake loves to fly’yet never leaves the ground.
Leake,69, a township resident operates radio-controlled model airplanes and was one of about 50 who attended the Flight of Giants airplane show on June12 at the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area. The annual event was sponsored by the Pontiac Miniature Aircraft Club.
‘If you can see it you can fly it,’said Leake, a PMAC member who owns several scale model planes. ‘I started with remote controlled cars, then worked up to model airplanes.?
With wingspans ranging from 4 to 6 feet and weighing about 5 pounds, the models contain radio transmitters and even a tiny video camera. Leake recently fabricated pontoons on one plane for snow or water landings. Many of Leake’s planes come ready to fly. Other kits require some assembly.
While Leake boasts of only a novice interest in flying the models, his son Tad Leake, a Brandon High School graduate applied his model airplane skills for the defense of the United States..
‘Tad got me into model airplane flying about four or five years ago,? said Leake. Now he flies unmanned aircraft by remote control for the Army.?
Stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Tad joined the Army a few years ago and now flies the remote control aircraft for Army Military Intelligence.