So, my story.
I, like so many others in this fascinating hobby, have loved the beauty of flight as long as I can remember. Some of the best times of my childhood involved those wonderful 1.00 Styrofoam warbirds from the dime store. This would have been in the mid 80s and 90s. My imagination ran wild with one of those Spitfires out in the front yard of our country home.
Once every year an rc club about 30 miles from us put on an airshow that included a flying lawn mower, a flat iron, Snoopy and the Red Baron, plenty of comedy and a ballet of the Bipes. I dreamed of doing that impossible thing. Learning to fly one of those beautiful machines! However, unlike some of you, my Dad was not a fan of the idea even though he fed my temptation yearly with a trip to the show. Rc airplanes were a waste of time and money, as I heard numerous times after expressing my dreams. I kinda learned to keep quiet about that and I fed the need to fly with plastic models and one lone rubber powered Guillows Hellcat, which my Dad, to his credit, helped me build.
In my teens, several of my friends learned to fly but I had given up my dream. Until one day in my early 20s someone handed me a transmitter and allowed me to experience my first flight. A .60 size U Can Do with a .91 Saito up front. I was able to keep it in the air and that fine gentleman even allowed me to pull to vertical and fly the plane to a stall to disprove what I'd been told about the deadly stall-spin scenario. I was hooked, but I still didn't think I could justify the expense until that same wonderful person offered me a complete Sig Kadet with all the support equipment and a gallon of fuel as well for 125.00. By this time I was married and no longer so bound by Dads opinion and I grabbed my chance. Since then, there have been well over 100 aircraft types flown, so many adventures, good, bad and hilarious, numerous disciplines mastered, new pilots soloed, including both of my boys and my daughter, (almost) kits built, new maneuvers added to the repertoire, friendships formed and on and on. This sport has brought me so much joy and fulfillment over the last 23 years that it's hard to believe.
I have never belonged to a club because there are none close enough, but being a member of AMA has allowed me to fly at a number of events over the years and most importantly gave me a chance to fly with my brothers in law at their club in Steinbach Mantiba after I began taking an airplane along whenever we went to visit my wife's parents. Most of them caught the bug rather quickly, and the rest is history.
I will add in closing that my Dad told me a few years back, 'I always knew you would do it eventually.'
