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I started with my first plane when I started college and was starting a family. I was learning on my own and it was short lived and an expensive couple minutes. Much later in life, I learned a friend of mine flew RC airplanes at a local club field MRRCS Mount Rainier Radio Control Society.
I started going to the field after purchasing my first foam plane and found that going to a club field offered so many benefits.
My father got me into model aviation at a very young age, and I joined the AMA in the mid 1970s. My father loved to build and fly Cox .049 Free Flight planes, launching them in the fields south of our house in suburban Denver. I fell in love with the sounds and smells of those models, and loved the chase of retrieving them.
I started playing with Flying models in 1944. I was 8 years old. I cut out models with my dad's razor blades. I have flown pretty much continual since. Was exciting as the hobby kept progressing to bigger and better things. I live in the desert southwest, so flying is pretty much year-round.
My modeling love started around 1968 when my father brought home a newly released Cox F2G Corsair. He taught me how to start it, I taught myself how to fly it. My father George Pizon was a great influence and teacher, and I owe him a lot.
I had had my first RC Airplane in 1974, a Top Flite Headmaster with a OS Max .25 for power and a Heathkit GD-19 5 Channel radio which I helped him build! I originally had a 4-digit AMA number but lost it when I didn’t pay for a couple years, so now I have my 5-digit 82653 number.
My early memories are peering into the cockpit of a single-seat Navy jet at an airshow, and the sound of four big radial engines on Constellation airliners.
I was given a Cox glow engine and learned to fly u-control in schoolyards.
Hobby shops put me in touch with accomplished modelers. This was before the internet, so meeting others was essential for learning.
My RC Journey
My journey into RC aviation started the same way a lot of modern stories do—by accident. A video popped up on my Facebook feed one day, and something about it grabbed me. I didn’t even know why at first. I just knew I wanted to understand it. That curiosity quickly turned into hours of research and watching videos, which eventually led me to buy my first RC aircraft: an Arrows Bigfoot from HobbyZone.
I joined AMA in 1963 or '64. I am a member of the Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club (GCRCC) and also a member of the Sirs club in Bloomington, Illinois. I am a retired Franciscan priest and have taught many kids how to fly. I was the dean of students at Saint Francis seminary in Cincinnati, where the GCRCC had its flying field. At 93, I am no longer able to fly.
I always told people, this is a great hobby, because it keeps your eyes on heaven, and when you crashed, it is humbling. It has been a great hobby for me.
I'm a lifelong model airplane member. I soloed in Control Line in 1961 and RC in 1962. I'm still flying everything from small electric to 40%+ IMAC here in the SW. With all of my lifechanging events, I'm now sadly leaving the hobby :-)
I was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1952. I started building model airplanes when I was around ten years old. Most were gliders and sail planes. I managed to crash the Control Line models until my buddy Bill got a Cox .049 trainer and we finally learned to fly Control Line. I still have a Cox .049 Trainer hanging from the ceiling in my office and I fly it from time to time.
I became fascinated as a young lad watching my uncles fly Control Lines, such as Flight Streaks. By lad, I was around 7 at the time in the 1970's. At 10, I got my first Control Line, a Ring Master with an O.S. .35 engine. My uncle helped with the build, and he had me flying it during the maiden. In no time, I was doing all kinds of stunts. It is still in my hanger today, and I am in my 60s.
