Being a modeler since the age of six or so has opened many doors for me and allowed me to meet some really interesting people.
I was in the Air Force and started building and flying RC models in 1971 while stationed in Thailand. I had to make my own fuel and there were no clubs or other modelers in the area. I also had no place to fly at the base I was on. I found what looked like an abandoned airfield in the jungle near town. It was concrete with lots of grass and weeds, not to mention plenty of Water Buffalo piles scattered all over. I built a Headmaster and had a Fox 25 for power and ran through several piles while learning to fly. I couldn’t clean it properly at the field and had to take a bus back to base. People were a lot less curious about the plane on the trip back as they were on the way to the field.
One day, when I was having a great flight, it seemed like twenty Thai soldiers popped up out of nowhere and started yelling and pointing guns at me to get off the field. They took me over to an empty shack and held me and my plane there. I was hot and really thirsty; it seemed like a long time but it was only about 20 minutes. None of them spoke any English and my Thai was not helpful at all. I thought I was in big trouble. Eventually, a plane landed, and by now there was a huge crowd at the field. It was the King of Thailand and he was making a visit to the nearby town. Apparently, I had delayed his landing and he wanted to see me. He spoke perfect English and said that it was no problem. He also flew RC planes and said I could use the field any time, but to get permission first. He gave me a contact in town.
When I was working for Lockheed Martin back in the 1990s, I was in Bahrain doing training on the F-16’s they had purchased. A few of us were invited to the dedication of the new US Embassy. One of the security men told me that the Emir (The head of the country, like a King) wanted to talk to me. I thought I might be in trouble again. They do a pretty thorough check of everyone’s background. It turns out that he also flew RC planes and wanted me to know that even though it was illegal in his country, I could fly at the Royal flying field as long as none of the Royal family was using it. I never took advantage of it, but it was great to know that I could.
Later in my career, I was working for an Israeli company as an engineer. They were tasked with developing a new UAV, and since I had RC plane building and flying experience, they asked if I wanted to be on the team. Without my RC background, I would have never made it on the team. It was a very fast paced program, only six months from concept to production, and it was very successful. It’s now flying in over 20 countries.
