Kids and teens with a yearning to “slip the surly bonds of earth” will have an opportunity to try their hands at piloting Saturday at Aqua Boom, and at the same time have a chance to win their own aircraft.

Flights of Fancy is an event of the Highland Lakes Flyers being staged from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hank Nilsen Field in Kingsland. Each year Flights of Fancy welcomes the public to observe radio controlled (RC) model aircraft flying.

Experienced instructors will give kids 16 and younger free flight instruction and a turn at the flight controls. Each one that tries will be entered in a drawing to own a ready-to-fly plane.

In addition to bringing their models for close-up inspection, members will provide continuous flight demonstrations.

When 100 tiny aircraft flew together on May 3 over the skies of Americus, Ga. They set a new Guinness World Record and one was piloted by Mike McDougall of Kingsland.

McDougall was just a boy the first time his father handed over the radio control of a model aircraft, but it ignited a spark that has lasted his whole life.

That spark is one reason he and the 47 members of the Highland Lakes Flyers sponsor “Flights of Fancy.”

“I got my first one when I was about 15 and I’ve spent 40 years on this stuff,” said McDougall, president of Highland Lakes Flyers.

“My father’s plane had a glow-fuel engine; powered with alcohol or castor oil,” he said. “The controls only went in two directions.”

Now McDougall has his own small air force, although he’d be hard-pressed to admit to numbers.

“It’s like asking a woman how many pairs of shoes she has,” he said.

Instead of glow fuel, they are powered by tiny electric motors and the controls that reach up to a mile are almost as responsive as if the pilot were airborne.

So, when the enthusiast’s wife Nancy planned a foray to Hawaii to see the daughter of a friend commissioned as a missionary in May, McDougall began thinking about what kind of vacation he would enjoy.

The fly-in at Oshkosh, Wis. Was tempting, he said, but he settled on the Southeast Electric Flight Festival (SEFF) in Americus.

About 450 pilots brought more than 2,500 models of radio-controlled aircraft from the U.S., Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia and the U.K. At least 1,000 flight fans visited Mac Hodges Air Field for three days of preparations, test flights and the SEFF pilots’ success at breaking the Guinness World Record for most electric aircraft in flight at one time.

Taking off 20 at a time, pilots filled the skies near Lake Winnebago for 60 seconds with 100 crafts, each wearing no more than 20 ounces. They topped the last record of 47 planes recorded in South Africa.

On a weblink (http://www.atlantahobby.com/shopexd.asp?id=7670) McDougall’s take off is pictured about two and a half minutes into a video of the event.

A registered engineer and retired executive from San Antonio City Public Service, McDougall has remained interested in more than utility construction. Admiration for aircraft of all kinds has led him into constructing his own models.

He is a reviewer for the on-line newsletter for RCgroups.com, posting detailed instructions to guide others.

His latest review details construction of his Texan AT 6 World War II-vintage trainer model.

The Highland Lakes Flyers meet at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at the Kingsland Library.

As early as 7:30 in the morning on almost any Saturday he or other members of the local flyer club can be found cavorting their miniature planes in the air space above the landing field they constructed themselves on the site of the old Llano County dump.

The Aqua Boom Flights of Fancy can be visited at the airfield constructed by the local flyer club. Taking RR 2545 from RR 1431 and traveling 1.8 miles to Limestone Street, the last quarter mile to Hank Nilsen Field is marked by signs. Maps are available at the chamber office, 2743 West RR 1431, and on the club Web site: www.zuel.com/highland_lakes_flyers.

Two other up-coming radio-controlled flyer events are scheduled.

The Highland Lakes Flyers’ Annual Swap Meet will be held 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, August 16. It will be open to the public at (LCRA’s) Lower Colorado River Authority Building, 8347 Ranch Road 1431, Buchanan Dam and kids under 12 are free at the meet.

The Llano River Open Float Fly will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, September 13 and 14 -- an event open to all Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) members interested in flying off the water.

Flying takes place off the south bank of the Llano River at the City of Llano Robinson Park. A small pilot fee is required but there is no charge for spectators.