Patric was first introduced to the hobby of aeromodeling at a young age by his father. He caught his first taste of flight at age six—learning how to fly a .46-size trainer, and soon flying solo and moving up to large scale aerobatics planes. In 2008, at the age of 11, he was invited to perform a noontime demo flight at the D.O.G.S Event. Patric was introduced to International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC) contest flying by Mike McConville and John Redman from Horizon Hobby shortly after, and has been avidly competing in local IMAC contests since. He flies a Hangar 9 35% Extra 300 as his competition aircraft. Patric’s most memorable experience in IMAC was participating in the 2012 Nats, in which he placed third in the Intermediate Class. The year 2012 was important to Patric’s aeromodeling career. He placed well in the Nats that year, and in October, won the Micro Heli Cup at the iHobby Expo. Winning the Micro Heli Cup began his team sponsorship with Empire Hobby and Gaui and opened the door to many new opportunities in the helicopter realm of the hobby. In recent years, Patric has focused mainly on his helicopter skills and is practicing for the 2016 competition season. He was invited to compete in the 2016 Extreme Flight Championship (XFC). In addition to practicing helicopter flying, Patric has recently been introduced to the popular world of drone racing and enjoys building and racing quadcopters. Patric compiled an archive of videos documenting his progress in the aeromodeling world on his YouTube channel, FlyingPolak, and through it, has been widely noticed for his micro helicopter flight videos and reviews. While attending Lane Technical College Prep High School in Chicago, Patric aimed to share his passion for model aviation with peers and began his school’s first student aviation club during his freshman year. Since then, many of his friends have become AMA members and avid modelers. Some have redirected their intended courses of study to aviation management. Patric’s club has also influenced the school board to create an aerospace engineering class, in which he has been very active. Through the school’s aerospace engineering club, Patric was chosen to represent the school in the Science Olympiad, building and flying F1D-style models. Patric and his partner took first place in their category at the Science Olympiad. Model aviation has been Patric’s life. As his main interest, it is the thing he dreams about and spends most of his time doing. Modeling is an outlet for him to meet new friends from around the world and fill his veins with adrenaline. It is a driving force and an inspiration. Patric’s involvement in the hobby and hard work at school have earned him a spot in the prestigious Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he is a sophomore with a major in aerospace engineering and minor in unmanned aircraft systems.
