Popular Linden DJ and owner of the Movements Sound System Troy Roberts continues to enthrall fans with his remote/radio controlled model planes and this weekend he is hosting a training session to give them firsthand experience in making and flying these planes.
Unlike other local and Caribbean flyers, Troy builds his own planes and holds the Caribbean record for constructing the largest model plane with an 18ft x 4” wing span that actually became airborne on several test runs before crashing during an exhibition earlier this year. Undaunted, Troy rebuilt the super toy and it is ready to be flown again.
However, this piece will only be on display at this weekend’s festival as the venue is not suitable for flying. The exhibition is set for the Egbert Benjamin Conference Centre tomorrow and Saturday, while patrons and other supporters of the event would be treated to a flying exhibition and festival to be held over three days in Linden. The festival starts at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground on Sunday. The exhibition starts at 2pm tomorrow in order to accommodate school children.
Troy is currently looking for a venue to fly the large model craft since the previously used venue is no longer available as BOSAI now conducts its mining operations there. “Right now, I am checking out other locations including the Bayrock ground and the old airstrip,” he said, explaining that though the old airstrip is the ideal location for flying, the area is not easily accessible to the community.
Troy told this newspaper that he will garner support from seasoned flyers, including a Barbadian team which is already in Guyana for the festival. His supporters will be informing the public about the technicalities involved in flying the radio controlled planes while he would be focusing mainly on teaching patrons to build the planes from scratch. They will also be given an opportunity to learn how to fly the planes by assembling a number of simulator kits on hand. “They would actually be kits where they would learn how to fly but it would be on big screen and they would be using remotes,” he explained. Troy said he has built six new specially designed craft including a few jets and a gadget that looks similar to a speed boat but which flies off of water.
Since publicising his hobby, Troy has inspired many persons across the country and further afield. He says he only became aware of the impact his story had on the public when Prime Minister Samuel Hinds paved the way for him to register it through the Board of Industrial Training. Since then, several opportunities have been opened to him: local telephone company GT&T has signed one of his favourite models; the paratrooping Cessna which can drop about 40 soldiers with shoots in a single flight. “It is branded GT&T, it also has navigational lights and the drop hatch and recently I was called by the Airport because they want me to do something for them,” he said. In addition, this weekend’s festival will give him an opportunity to realise another one of his dreams: to share with others his knowledge and skills in making model planes.
Troy said as a child he admired and loved helicopters more than planes and dreamt of becoming a pilot; however, tough economic circumstances forced him to put aside those dreams. Two years ago, on a trip to Georgetown, he saw a toy helicopter on the shelves at Giftland Office Max. “I said, watch I got an opportunity, I got a small cash let me buy this helicopter,” he recalled, adding that he flew the toy a few times and it crashed. This reignited his passion, leading him to do some research online to find ways of fulfilling his lifelong dream.
Troy said he soon logged on to the website www.bananahobbie.com where he purchased his first real helicopter and an F-117 stealth bomber. “This was a black war plane [modelled after] the original. That plane didn’t last me five seconds,” he said, adding that “I took off with that plane and in five seconds I crash it into a building.” Troy explained that he didn’t realise that the plane could fly at such speed and “the fellas told me that I started it too rash, I should have started with something with more of a trainee purpose that would balance itself and don’t have to do so much manoeuvring.” Determined to pursue his hobby, he repaired his purchase several times before finally deciding that he had what it took to build his own model planes and helicopters. “It cost me something like $120,000 to get that plane down here so I repaired it until I had my money’s worth,” he said.
Troy then built more than 45 planes before he got the first one to fly. “I had to be on the internet to learn about centre of gravity, aerofoil, dihedral and all those technical things that are necessary for flying,” he said. Many Sunday afternoons persons around Mackenzie could spy the planes in the sky from their verandas. Children and adults alike would flock the Mackenzie Sports Club to catch a glimpse of the take-off, flying and landing of the miniature planes. Today, Troy builds planes without worrying whether or not they would fly. He plans to challenge himself even further by building a 40-foot plane that will weigh as much as an adult. “I don’t want to go into too much details but that’s my projections for the future this 40ft real scale plane and from there I think I would go strictly into building gadgets,” he shared.
Troy acknowledges that his is a very expensive hobby and as such he listens to the advice of his peers as, “If I don’t watch mah self this could run me insolvent.” Most of the parts used in the constructions are imported from China and while it remains a hobby, Troy said he would relish the opportunity to pursue studies in aeronautics on a much dreamed about scholarship. He said too he’d love to host training sessions in and around his hometown, Linden.
