Lincoln’s skies will sport an airshow of miniature proportions Friday through Sunday.

Remote-control model airplane enthusiasts plan to convene this weekend at a 50 by 600 foot runway designed specifically for model airplanes. The planes range from having a 1-foot wing span to a 10-foot wingspan.

The 4015 East Catlett Road runway in Lincoln is possible, due to efforts of the Associated Modelers of Sacramento. Member Rich Fabbre said the club has grown from 30 to 150 members.

“The club is almost 4-years-old and we started out with 30 of us that were interested in getting a flying field for this immediate area,” Fabbre said. “We worked for almost three years to get the field to a point where we could fly off of it and the grand opening was last October.”

The miniature airfield construction cost the club $90,000 and is on land the club leases from the nearby sanitary landfill, according to Fabbre.

“As you get any bigger than planes you can literally fly in the park, you have to have a place somewhat remote and isolated so you’re not bothering anybody,” Fabbre said. “Having a field without a lot of trees or houses close by is an advantage.”

The runway is made of a synthetic fiber, according to Fabbre.

“It’s very smooth, and makes a great runway,” Fabbre said.

This weekend’s event is a way to help pay back loans the club took out to build the field, according to Fabbre.

The event isn’t just about paying back loans, however.

Fabbre said the goal this weekend is to teach model airplane safety and get others interested in the hobby.

“Safety is important in a number of areas. To be a member of our club, you have to be a member of a national organization that brings with it insurance so if you were to crash your plane into somebody’s car or windshield, it would pay for that,” Fabbre said. “We have pilot boxes where pilots are required to stand when flying.”

The pilot boxes help pilots avoid mid-air collisions.

Fabbre, a former Air Force pilot, said he has flown model airplanes since he was a child.

“I’m too old to fly now so this is a little bit of an alternative to that,” Fabbre said.

Fabbre listed an aspect of flying model airplanes that is more difficult than flying a life-sized plane.

“When you are flying a real plane, you are flying inside it and are oriented to the airplane,” Fabbre said. “When you are flying a model, the airplane is flying away from you. If the airplane is flying away from you and you turn the stick right, it turns right. If it’s flying toward you and you turn it right, the plane turns left.”

Jerry Duncan, the event’s contest director, said that the public will be “fascinated” with how the model airplanes fly.

“They can hover and hang on the propeller straight up. They can turn circles and climb straight out,” Duncan said. “They do things that the real planes cannot do and everything a real plane can do.”

Duncan said model airplanes have changed over the years.

“When you say model airplanes, people think buzzy, whiny model airplanes, and 25 years ago, that was what was out there,” Duncan said. “We’ve grown to the point now where, in contests, planes have gotten to be quarter scale, third scale and half scale (the size of real planes).”

Duncan said model airplane pilots must follow the same safety procedures as real pilots.

“The pre-flight checkout is to make sure everything is working the way it’s supposed to be and moving the way it’s supposed to. It’s quite a feat. There’s a lot of knowledge that goes into this,” Duncan said. “The checkout and safety aspect doesn’t change from the big ones down to the little ones.”

Club President John Sorenson said he likes all aspects of model airplanes, from building them “to the challenge of flying them.

“I like that fact that I’m outside the cockpit when the airplane crashes,” Sorenson said. “The advantage is I can come out and try dumb things. The only requirement is that you fly safely as far as people are concerned.”