Published: December 30, 2008 11:52 pm      

HOBBIES: Learn to fly before you buy is motto of Lockport store

When it comes to radio-controlled planes and helicopters, some people are afraid to fly.

Clarence Ragland, owner of ABC Fly Before You Buy on Locust Street, believes that fear is hurting the model aviation hobby. To fight the discouragement faced by newcomers to the hobby, he is offering to help with his own teaching method, the “Ragland Technique.” To teach people to fly is very stressful, Ragland said. But with 38 years of experience, he’s found a way to teach newcomers how to fly.

The normal teaching technique instructors use is a buddy cord. Both the student and the instructor each have one, while the instructor holds the “switch.” The instructor holds the switch until the student gets into trouble, then the instructor releases it and assumes control of the aircraft.

“It really doesn’t teach people how to fly, it just keeps them from crashing,” Ragland said.

The Ragland Technique starts off with Ragland getting a training model airplane in the air and handing the radio control to the student.

“I say, ‘Don’t do anything,’ and 99 percent of the time, people don’t,” he said.

Ragland has the student put their thumbs on the radio controls. Ragland puts his thumb and forefinger underneath on the same controls, allowing the student to see and feel how the controls should be moved to fly the aircraft.

“Normally, they get the radio and start banging the sticks around,” Ragland said. “This keeps them from doing that. The plane essentially flies by itself.”

ABC Fly Before You Buy is a hobby shop that focuses on radio-controlled aviation. It offers radio-controlled planes and helicopters. Most can go as high as 600 feet, but are kept at about 200 to 300 feet. The shop also does repairs and flight instruction for those who are in the hobby or those looking to start. There are some who have been into radio-controlled aircraft for some time, but still don’t how to fly.

Ragland has taught all kinds of students to fly, including people at the Dale Association, Newfane High School and even former Buffalo Bills linebacker Mark Maddox. Ragland even had a student from Geneva, Switzerland, who saw his Web site. The student came all the way to the United States to learn how to fly from Ragland, but the weather didn’t help.

“He came in the first week of May 1999, and it rained every day but two days,” Ragland said. “I taught him to fly in those two days. He called up his wife in Geneva and said, ‘You know that helicopter in the hobby shop window? Buy it.’ That’s how addictive this hobby is.”

While it differs from person to person, the average amount of time it takes someone to learn how to fly under his system is about two hours, Ragland said. Teaching the skills is what will draw and keep folks interested in the hobby, Ragland said. The more people who participate, the stronger the radio-controlled flying hobby becomes.

“Safety in numbers,” he said.

However, Ragland admits there is a downside to an increase in participation. More people who know how to fly means either a waiting line to fly or a very crowded sky.

“A lot of people don’t like to fly when there’s other planes in the air,” Ragland said.

Ragland said a common problem is when newcomers to the hobby want to buy a plane. Either they are told to go to the training plane first, or they buy it and never learn to fly it.

“I tell them to go ahead and buy it and I can help them transition,” Ragland said.

The shop was originally in Olcott for about a year, before Ragland moved it to Lockport in August because there was more interest in the city in flying.

“It’s an exciting hobby,” Ragland said.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.