I have been interested in Aviation for quite some time, but I havenât flown until comparatively recently.
My first plane was a Spirit. It was purchased (as a kit) when I was 13 (1993, Iâm currently 24). I assembled the kit in the woodshop at my parents house and covered it as well (all white) Unfortunately I didnât have a job, or any source of income so I had no way to put a radio or electronics in it. So it hung from the ceiling of my bedroom for many years. Until I was a freshman in high school. I was over at a friends house and I noticed he had a remote control planeâit was a Cox something or other, had a .049, and a working radio system! I asked him if he was flying it and he said noâso later that day we stripped the gear out of his plane and installed it into mine. He had never really flown beforeâand neither had Iâafter reading the manual about 200 times we decided to go out into the front yard and give it a tossâI made sure everything was balanced and checked all the control surfaces to make sure it was setup to the manufacturerâs specs. First toss and it glided about 20â before gently settling on the ground! SUCCESS! We picked it up again and tossed it with a little more forceâWHAMâstraight into the ground â Eventually I repaired it and recovered the entire plane (transparent blue) It never flew againâI had the plane until my sophomore year of college, always hanging over my bedâhaunting me and reminding me to fly it one dayâwhen I moved from that apartment I left it behind and now some one else has (had) it. I stayed out of flying for a couple of years (not that I ever REALLY flew) and then one day about 2 years ago I was talking to my girlfriend about needing a hobbyâthe ominous hanging plane jumped into my head and I though, âTHATâS IT!â Itâs inexpensive (I know better now!) and lots of fun! (still true â ) Picked up a Spirit Elite kit (along with a new radio), assembled and covered it and had it ready to fly in about 3 weeks. Took it out to the field and launched it off of a weak hi start a couple of times with no help (bad idea!) Ended up almost hitting one of the guys that I fly with (sorry Tony) and slammed the plane into the ground. So what took 3 weeks to build and about $200 was destroyed in about 30 minutesâafter that incident I was advised to get a simulatorâwhich I did, picked up a Spirit Elite ARF, and studied up on how to fly. Since then I have been flying as much as school and work allow me to. Tony is still my (and others) favorite target at the field â Jared RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
