85,171.87 raised in 2026. We have reached 17% of our goal.
Help us reach this year's goal of $500,000!
My father was an Air Force F-86 Fighter Pilot, then Chief Pilot for the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks. We started Free Flight models when I was 8 or so. Did fly (poorly) Control Line for a couple years. We started RC with a Ranger 42 with a single channel radio. We were founding members of the Helena Montana Flying Tigers club. I got my first four channel via a Royal Classic 70 kit. Flew fun fly and Quicky 500 pylon racing.
I am a retired major college and pro coach. Played at Tennessee '61 to '64. I have a private pilot license and got into RC in 1976. Love flying and building. My latest build is now on Old School Model Works' internet site. It is a Sky Ranger 40 with a Tennessee theme. I live in Las Vegas and fly at the dry lakebed in Boulder City. Need more. Please feel free to contact me at cattanara@cox.net.
Current age 75. BSEE, MBA-Mktg. Started in modeling with small plastic WW2 aircraft. My Godfather was a bombardier in WW2 and told me many stories.
Around age 11, I learned to fly U-control with a Stuntman 23 and a BabyBee 049. Flew Ukie for about 2 years, till I discovered RC while on a Sunday drive with my parents. After that, I was at the "RC Field" behind Manville Kupper airport just about every weekend.
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.
