Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Jeff Fowler surrounded by a few of his dozens of remote control planes he flies. The yellow plane in the center, a Piper Cub, is more than 25 years old and is the last plane his father built.

HOUGHTON – Jeff Fowler, of Houghton, has been flying remote control (RC) airplanes nearly all his life. Anxious to share the hobby with community residents, he would like to introduce it local youth.

Fowler, a native of Greenville, South Carolina, said he inherited his love of the hobby from his father.

“I’ve been around it all my life, ever since I can remember being alive,” he said. “There was a hobby table in my daddy’s bedroom that you had to squeeze by to get to the bathroom.”

Fowler grew up building and flying planes with his father, saying they built models and ultralight planes together.

In addition to being a lifelong hobby, Fowler said it is also a connection to his father. “He taught me a lot,” he said. “I’ve been doing it about 40 years, since I was eight years old, and as far as I know, he flew them from his childhood.”

For Fowler, flying planes is more than a hobby, it is a type of therapy. “This is everything. I have trouble focusing,” he said. “But when you get one of these in the air, it takes everything that you’ve got and puts it on the plane, because if you’re not focused on that plane, you won’t have it. It won’t come back.”

Fowler says he flies planes as often as he can, except in winter, for the most part. It mostly depends on the wind. He and his girlfriend like to fly them at Shoots and Ladders, on the waterfront in Houghton, usually from early evening until it’s too dark to see. They avoid the beach area, and do not fly them in crowded areas.

“You don’t want to fly these around people,” said Fowler. You’d stand to hurt somebody.”

The risk of being struck does not seem to deter people, he said. While he is flying the planes, it does not take long to attract an audience, especially closer to dusk when the lights in the park turn on.

“They’ll gather up quick,” he said.

Fowler, an employee of Swift Hardware, stores his planes in a back part of the basement, where he can work on them on his days off. He said he hopes to attract local youth to the hobby and when he works on Saturdays, he often has a computer flight simulator hooked up to introduce curious people to flying.

Fowler said while he can assemble and disassemble planes, and service the motors and controllers, he enjoys flying them far more than maintaining them. The planes he prefers are referred to as ARF, almost ready to fly, and he mail orders planes and parts from a Chicago-based company. Planes can range in price from $100 – $1,500 and more.

Fowler said while he hopes to attract people to the hobby, he had not considered organizing a group or a club.

“I don’t want to commit to something,” he said. “But I’d be happy to teach people and give lessons.