Lake Casitas : Model Airplanes to Compete Sunday

Large model airplanes will take to the sky Sunday over Lake Casitas in an annual air contest.

The All Era Scale show will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., depending on wind and weather, director Mel Joseph of Oxnard said. The fee to enter Casitas Recreation Area is $3 per vehicle.

“It’s a family-oriented sport,” said Joseph, a model airplane buff who has seven aircraft. Dozens of aircraft, some with wingspans of 50 to 110 inches, will compete for trophies and certificates from the national Academy of Model Aeronautics, Joseph said. Some of the models, with internal combustion engines that run on a mixture of nitrogen and methanol fuel, weigh up to 20 pounds.

Scale replicas of planes flown in World War I and World War II will be featured, along with a display of civilian model aircraft. Only models of planes that have actually flown are eligible, and all must have mufflers.