Mary’s Pond plays the role of an airport for an afternoon

ROCHESTER – Birds enjoying the windy skies over Mary’s Pond in Rochester on Saturday, Aug. 17, had to share airspace with some unidentified flying objects.

The Bristol County Remote Control Club hosted its 14th annual John Nicolaci Memorial Float Fly, sending dozens of remote control aircraft of all shapes and sizes into the skies.

The event is named in honor of a former club member.

Spectators set up lawn chairs and brought snacks to watch from the shore as the planes buzzed around before landing safely in the pond.

August 17th also happened to be National Model Flying Day.

One club member, Carlos Costa of Dartmouth, said that flying model airplanes brings him “peace and serenity.”

Gerry Dupont, the club’s flight instructor and safety officer and a Dartmouth resident, called the event “glorious silliness.”

Dupont said his passion for flying began as a young boy with hand-thrown gliders.

Recently, he spent the better part of eight consecutive winters building a model of a Japanese fighter plane that he hopes to one day send to Japan to display in a museum or to give to the family of the pilot whose plane he used as the model for his own.

“It keeps me young,” Dupont said. “I enjoy building something with my own hands and leaving it to the most unforgiving medium there is.”

Dupont said he also enjoyed the camaraderie within the group.

“Everyone leaves politics behind, we enjoy the sport and the company of others,” he said.

The best thing about it, says Dupont, is that he survives every landing “unharmed.”