Most all of us model aircraft enthusiasts, at the basic level, just want to play with our toys... what gives us the enjoyment of playing with them? What attracts us to these toys? For me, flying model aircraft is like the near-realization of a life-long dream of actually piloting a real aircraft.
What kid dreams of being a passenger on an airplane? ...We don't want to be the passenger; we all want to be the PILOT of an airplane. As a little kid with my plastic army men and plastic airplanes, I would "fly" that airplane, gripped between my fingers, around the living-room, sometimes on specific missions, but often that flight would become a general "sight-seeing tour". Imagine how it would look from inside the plane as we steeply climb from floor-level, up, over the top of the arm of the couch, across the full-width of the couch at a thousand feet high... and then we roll-right and pass through that potted philodendron, just brushing our wingtips against those dark green leaves, risking life and limb at the very idea of that maneuver. If I was the pilot inside that little plane, how awesome an experience that would be! ... and then we have engine trouble and head for a safe landing on top of the TV... Safe!... good landing! ... thank the maker!
How many little airplanes with spinning propellers got held in front of an electric fan or out the window of a car as we pretended to fly, feeling the vibration of the motor and the lift of those tiny wings in the wind? .. a life-long dream.
The realities of life eventually overtake us and, for most of us, the physical practicality of becoming involved with aircraft... the expense, the demands, the training, the logistical limitations, the actual application and value of an aircraft to your every-day life means that the dream is set aside... not deleted; it lingers just behind the edge of your daily life. Then you catch the edge of a TV documentary on "Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier!" or "Space-X lands a rocket back onto its launch-pad!" or "Amelia Earhart's wreckage confirmed!"... and that dream is reawakened to increase your pulse-rate once more!
Radio control model aircraft let you realize that dream. It involves you with making preparations for flight, organizing your gear, learning the skill of piloting your craft, learning the ability and agility of your craft. You start the motor. You launch it into the air! You dive, you climb, you roll-through all of those scenes you could only imagine in your mind's eye, before. All too soon it's time to land. Learning to land your model aircraft is the hardest part of it all... during the flight, danger to your craft is never so great as at that moment at the point of landing... and yet, with practice, we learn to pilot that model aircraft in for a safe landing.
Do things go wrong? Of course! The weather tosses your model in such a way as to make each flight a new challenge. That motor of yours is a bit quirky today. Are those rubber-bands that I hear humming or is that some mechanical failure in process? I think my carburetor is set a little too rich. That model cannot FLY inverted! Against those white clouds, I can hardly see my wings! ... and then "Bang!": hard landing. Now I have to fix it before I can fly, again. ... ... and then you DO fix it!
The model aircraft hobby requires you to take an interest in many seemingly unrelated areas of study. Certainly you learn about the aerodynamics of your flying models. You learn about glues and adhesives of all types. You learn basic electronics and batteries... modern radio systems and hardware require that you learn some computer-logic as you program your transmitters and control-modules. You need to use hand-tools and power-tools... pliers, miniature screwdrivers, drills, sanders, saws and cut-off wheels. You learn to plan-for and prepare-for your each excursion to the flight-line. Charge your radio, your on-board batteries, your glow-igniter, your starter... charge enough batteries to ensure that you can get-in several flights while you are out there. Put together the essential tools and parts that you might need when you are at the field... so much to learn and accomplish, so much to be proud of accomplishing... and all part of the enjoyment of the hobby.
Some model aircraft come complete and ready to take flight, right out of the box. Others are "less-so"... and still others come as a small box of parts, ready to be painstakingly assembled into flying-machines. Receiving any of those as a gift will get your pulse racing as you imagine the possibilities and the potential of that flying model.
Live the dream. Relive the dream. Enjoy flying model aircraft.
Eric, Thank You for the thought and energy you invest with keeping the Club current and our Website so upbeat. Happy Model Aviation Day to all.
I don’t know how to write my own article, So I’ll just post it here! Sept, will be one year for me flying! John, was my instructor, and sometimes Ben. It’s been a great ride, And I’m so glad that, me and Paully, went out to the airport, that day,
It’s just a great hobby, and all the people in the
Egales club will do anything to help you out, as long as you show them, you are serious about learning to fly! I would not have done it, If Montana, Bob , had not have come over to me and, Paully, and said, hay, we will teach you how to fly for free! We have a club trainer plane, if you
Will make the commitment, and come out on your weekends off, then you can buy your on trainer, and will teach you on that! I said rally!
Ok, I’m in! So I hooked up with Master John, my
Instructor,
So the reason I told Montana bob, I’m in ,
My rc plane flight experience , goes back 40yrs.
Now that does not mean I got 40yrs flight experience,! It means when I was 18 yrs old, I was
An avid back packer, and camper, Me and my friend, would spend a week or more backing, on the AP, trail, and all over the smoky mountains ,
So one day, we are hiking up to the top of these
6400ft, grassy mountains, called the shinning rock. Wilderness area, google it: so as we’re walking up we see these two gliders flying over,
The mountain, whee we got to the top, their were these two old, guys. 34-40, ha , ha, flying these gliders, 6ft, wing no motor, 30 min at a time and landing them, in the grass! That blew me away!
I was hooked! First thing I did when I got home,
Was order me a Gentle Lady kit! I worked on that think every day, when I got home from high school, It took me two months, to build it and cover it, had no internet, had to go to the library,
And get books on how to cover, no electric motors back in 1975′ I bought a cox .049 engine,
With plastic, top wing motor mount, had tiny, gas tank, enough to get the plane up! And run out of gas, so I got it all ready, took it up to the local high school, foot ball field, it was not a perfect
Day to fly, foggy, low clouds, but I didn’t care,
We’re flying today, it’s on. I started that little .049
And could smell the gas, and tossed it! What bueatifull , site. Up, up up, and it cept going up,
I was flying, but it cept going up into the fog, and
I lost it, then I see it comming out of the cloud strait, down into the ground! TOTALED!
That was the last time I flew an Rc plane 40yrs ago! Untill I met the Eagles”
,
Wow what a great story worth it beats the heck out of my story.
No one’s story is more important than anyone else’s; every one has his own story, and no one’s style of flying or type of plane they like to fly is better than any one else’s… drones, gliders, bi-planes, scale, pylon racing, helicopters, jets, etc, etc… and that’s the best thing about this club. Everybody supports whatever you want to do!
And when someone “Solos”, everybody there is sitting on the edge of his seat, just hoping and praying that things go well!
And you Pauly, on your solo flight, just OWNED it! …and greased it in for a landing. That’s why I call you: “Greased Lightning!”