He may be 90, but Vince Juliano is still young enough to follow his dreams.
Juliano’s dream: establish a model airplane club in Riverhead.
The Rocky Point man has been a model airplane aficionado for many years and still flies his “Team Grumman” plane in competitions.
“I entered that last year in Florida,” Juliano told town board members at Thursday’s work session. “I got a medal because I’m old,” he quipped.
Juliano’s dream also includes finding land in the Town of Riverhead that could be used by the model airplane club he’d like to establish. It would need to be sufficiently distant from homes or places where people gather, he said. It would need access to electricity and should be large enough to accommodate competitive events the club would host.
Events at the model airfield would attract visitors from across the region, he said.
Juliano didn’t have a specific location in mind.
The club would be responsible for improving and maintaining the field and would provide the town with liability insurance, Juliano said.
Riverhead town board members listened to the man’s pitch at the Aug. 9 work session.
Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith asked recreation superintendent Ray Coyne to look into whether the model airplane club use could be considered “a passive park use” allowed on preserved land owned by the town where passive recreational uses are permissable. Coyne said he thought that was possible and would look into it.
“Maybe if we could look at some of our parkland and see if one would be suitable,” Jens-Smith said.
The model airplanes are powered by gasoline, “glow fuel” — a mixture of mixture of methanol, nitromethane and oil — or electricity, Juliano said afterward. The are radio-controlled by an operator on the ground.
The size of the model planes varies greatly, he said. They are typically four feet or larger. His “Team Grumman” plane is eight feet long and is powered by a 13 HP gas engine. The planes can achieve high altitudes and can’t be near an active airstrip, Juliano said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has special rules for model aircraft
that meet certain requirements. Otherwise they are subject to FAA rules governing the flight of drones. Model aircraft must be registered with the FAA and, when flown within five miles of an active airport, the operator must notify air traffic control.
Correction: Due to an editing error, this article was originally published under an incorrect byline.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
