Magna • Ben Wheeler loves flying his radio-controlled jets, especially his F-22 Raptor model, and learning how to do new mid-air maneuvers with them.

Most of the time he flies at one of Salt Lake City’s oddest pieces of property, the Salt Lake City Modelport, a miniature airport complete with a 550-foot paved runway for landing RC planes.

But at least twice in the past two years, Wheeler has picked up a nail in one of the tires on his truck just driving into the site at 7595 W. California Ave.

Despite — or perhaps because of — its proximity to multiple landfills, discarded construction materials, old furniture and other trash often litter the dirt road that leads to the airport.

“It’s a bummer. People dump their stuff there,” Wheeler said. “You run over nails and stuff. That’s why a lot of people don’t come.”

The property is a unique amenity in the portfolio of Salt Lake City’s Public Lands Department: It also features miniature helicopter pads and an RC car track. It’s one of two parks the city owns outside of its own boundaries, sitting just over the line in Magna.

Illegal dumping is just one of the reasons that some pilots avoid flying at the modelport, even though it’s free to do so. Towering trash mounds loom over the property, the on-site facilities — including the runway itself — aren’t as nice as those at other Utah model airports, and pilots say they’ve seen signs of drug dealing and use there.

For its part, the city says that dumping remains a problem but unsanctioned camping on the property and nearby has eased. Enforcement, officials said, can be complicated because the modelport is outside city boundaries and isolated.

A beloved hobby

The modelport includes a shade structure with cable spool tables where pilots can prep their machines for flights. A pit toilet — like one you might see at a trailhead or campground — sits on-site, too, but is sometimes locked or out of commission because it’s been used inappropriately. There used to be metal picnic tables, too, but they’ve disappeared, pilots say.

The hobby itself is relatively simple. Pilots fly using a radio-enabled controller from the ground. The machines can cost up to thousands of dollars, though many can be had for hundreds, and battery-powered flights usually last under ten minutes.

Pilots enjoy flying, of course, but many also appreciate the community that comes with the hobby, and love to tinker with their machines and fix them up after a crash.

Eddie Voloch has been flying model planes for 35 years. He and his 14-year-old son Paulo are a part of the Utah Valley Aeromodelers club in Saratoga Springs. They were there for a World War II-themed bomb drop competition this month.

“It’s a really good hobby, puts you outside,” Voloch said. “If you have a kid, a son or a daughter that likes it, it brings that proximity. Otherwise, they’re just on their phones, talking to their friends, right? Me and my son, we’re so close.”

The duo crashed one of their planes, a model Boeing C-17, warming up for the competition that day, but was able to put it back together at the field.

Voloch rarely flies at the Salt Lake City facility, though, in large part because of the bumpy runway and its proximity to the dumps.

How the modelport has changed

There used to be a well-loved model plane airport along the Jordan River in northern Salt Lake City, but that flying field was torn up to build the Regional Athletic Complex. As part of a deal with the pilots who used it, the city spent some of its bond money to buy and construct the current modelport.

Then-Mayor Jackie Biskupski cut the ribbon on the airport in November 2016.

But since then, conditions at the property have deteriorated. The 2020 earthquake damaged the runway and some depressions have formed in the asphalt.

“I don’t fly out there no more because the runway’s so bad it just tears gear out of planes,” said pilot Steve Dawson, vice president of the Northern Utah Radio Controlled Aircraft Club, an association that flies at an airport west of Ogden. “It’s wavy, it’s not level no more. So, when it rains, water pools up on it and it doesn’t drain off.”

Salt Lake City Public Lands Deputy Director Tyler Murdock said post-earthquake repairs did not fully fix the problems at the modelport and that the runway still needs a full replacement. No funding has been allocated for the project yet, though.

Weeds have also sprung up through cracks on the landing strip. The areas around the runway and concrete pads are a cause for concern for plane and helicopter pilots, with tall grass and uneven ground making it hard to recover machines if they crash.

“The reason I don’t fly out there is if something goes wrong with my model, it’s too lumpy-bumpy for me to land in an area where my model is not going to get damaged,” helicopter pilot Shane Legg said. “And these models aren’t inexpensive.”

Murdock said staff mow the property two to three times a year. Public Lands has not considered grading the area around the helicopter pads.

But even just getting to the modelport can be troublesome. People dump unwanted items along the road and Wheeler said he’s often forced to weave through refuse to make it to the property. Unsanctioned camping has been an issue as well, and pilots say they don’t know what to expect when they show up, even if the situation has improved from a couple of years ago.

Murdock said recent nearby road closures have helped reduce dumping.

But all the issues add up to an unwelcoming experience for people who may just be getting into the hobby. Unlike at the clubs in Weber County and Saratoga Springs, Salt Lake City’s modelport is free, making it an otherwise good place for beginners.

Wheeler added that pilots at the modelport are friendly and welcoming to newbies; it’s where he learned from people like Dawson. He feels that the conditions, like the bumpy runway, force people to improve their flying.

He wants the city to add cameras along California Avenue to deter dumping. He also wants officials to improve the runway, especially so that water doesn’t pool on it.

The city is considering adding a gated access system to the modelport and officials are trying to find funding to pave the road to it, Murdock said. Cameras seem to be further away, though, because there’s no fiber internet connection out near the airport and other parks are set to get cameras first.

For all their concerns, though, some pilots like Wheeler still enjoy buzzing around in the skies above the modelport.

“This little niche hobby is expensive enough already, but to have a free place that you can go and count on,” Wheeler said, “that’s pretty nice.”