I was heavy into R/C cars, but I always had a love for aviation. I'd often thought about getting into R/C planes, but I knew it would be a dangerous slope. I had a ton of R/C cars, and I figured if I got into planes, I'd have a bunch of those too.
Can’t believe it’s been 30 years in this amazing hobby — and what a ride it’s been! I got my start flying with my dad, and it's been one of the best ways for us to bond over the years. The fact that we still fly together today? That’s the kind of joy you can’t buy.
I began with the good ol’ nitro days (remember that smell?), dabbled in gas for a bit, and eventually made the switch to electric — because let’s be honest, it’s just so much easier and lets you focus on what really matters: having fun in the sky.
In the early 90s, during a very stressful time in my life, my brother suggested picking back up my childhood hobby of building and flying model airplanes. I joined the AMA, bought an R/C Trainer, Radio, and all the gear I need to get started flying Radio Controlled Airplanes.
A lifelong aeromodeller and AMA member introduced me to the flying hobby, my future husband, Ron Liska. I had taken flying lessons in a full-scale Cessna, but the exposure to flying models made so much more sense to me. I could experience flight, share it with others who had a similar love of flying, and keep my feet firmly on terra firma. It was more cost effective, and it provides camaraderie and opportunities to learn from experienced flyers how to build and fly beautiful miniature replicas of the real thing.
I own Gotta Know Joe Hobbies. For the last 16 years, my daily mission has been to find kids (regardless of age) to introduce to this wonderful gift we call a "HOBBY." In a world where kids think that building is pushing a button and looking up the drive for an Amazon delivery, it has been an uphill battle, to say the least. There are times when I've almost given up; these kids are as hard to find as a pink, nine-legged turtle with velvet lips. But there is one power above that sends me a kid just as my faith starts to fade.
I'm sixty-five years young now and a lifelong modeler since the age of eight and an AMA member since I was 13 years old. I have built everything that flies from indoor rubber power to three full-scale EAA planes. I have recently retired after a 40-year career in the UAV industry at AAI/Textron systems working in the design and development lab for UAVs.
I’ve been into model aviation for some time due to life and work. I was out of the RC modeling for about seven years as my life started to wind down a little bit. Most of my children are older. I still had some of my remote-control airplanes. My younger daughter, which is 10, had asked me about them and I told her if you’re interested we could get into it and she could learn to fly, so now here I am about seven months later.
In 1965, Cox started producing the PT19 Flight Trainer Control Line model with the Iconic .049 engine. I was 13 years old, and it was my first plane. I went on to build kit and custom Control Line planes with balsa, paper, and dope, and in 1973, I bought my first Futaba single stick radio system and installed it in a Cessna foam model.
My Dad taught me to fly. He was a fighter pilot in WWII, and it was a way we could bond! I have great memories of me sanding one of his models and bringing it to him only for him to say, "I didn't sand it good enough," so I would go back and sand some more. It taught me patience. I love to fly and every time I'm out there I think of him.
My name is Tim McKay. I have been modeling Radio Control model aircraft since 1972. I spent 27 years on active duty with the United States Air Force and finished my work as an airline pilot flying the B-777F for DHL freight.
I have had a number of my RC airplane designs published in the modeling press and I now enjoy teaching new modelers via my YouTube channel with over 330 videos: www.youtube.com/@TimMcKay56.
