Kids Don't Fly RC Planes. Here's Why.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 มิ.ย. 2024
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16 years old and have been a member of a flying club for around 2 years now. Almost everyone else is 55+ and always moaning why there's hardly any youth at the club.
When I first went was told I had to pass a theory and practical examination, bmfa a certificate and all that. Being 14 and just pursuing an interest sparked from videos I saw on TH-cam I was absolutely daunted by this and very nearly didn't go back but I did pursue it. Had to spend about 5 hours with an assigned mentor before they would let me fly on my own, and they wonder why there's only one member of the club under 50
This is a real problem. You have a unique and crucial opportunity to change this club’s mentality on getting youth interested. Please do your best and use that great perseverance to convince the membership what you, as a youth, prioritize to get into and stay in the hobby. I’m guessing it involves more emphasis on the FUN first, then gradually, the theory as you are mentored. Good for you to hang in there. Now pay it forward for other young modelers and mentor your mentors on youth promotion. Good job! Good luck. The ultimate goal should be YOU as a youth, teaching other youth at the club. Make the +55 crowd change their minds. Reach out to your AMA District (region where you live) VP and AVPs for help.
@@darendth8594 As a professional adult educator and job trainer, it's nearly always a fools errand to try to change the attitude or values of an adult. Most refuse to learn anything unless they seek it out themselves, and will reject any advice or suggestion other than their own, as in "who asked for your opinion?"
I started as a 50+ adult and learned flying anywhere I could. No club. I met other bootleggers like me and had many years of fun, learning, and friendships. I’ve been in three clubs and none offered the friendliness and fun. I now live away from my old flying buddies and belong to a very large high end club. Not nearly as much fun!
@@bluhammer06 Can you please elaborate on any details about your (I’m assuming AMA and in USA) club experiences? This video offers great feedback from members and very well may help direct some positive changes. Thanks in advance. AMA AVP dedicated to advocacy and outreach.
@@darendth8594 My club experiences have never been bad or contentious, but neither have they been overly welcoming. I’m a very outgoing personality but there seems to be tight groups of flyers at clubs most who fly the bigger expensive craft. Most have been less then open to welcome you into their world if your just a foamy flyer. We are all AMA/club members but I guess the big boys toys make a distinction. I don’t think I would have ever become the good flyer I am today without the on the edge, walking the line challenging flying my bootlegged friends and I did for many years! So much fun. My extensive videos online show our fun which I’m sure many would criticize. Oh well
As a 20yr old who is cursed with ugliness, this hobby is one of the few things that keep me sane
Trust me, lots of people will find you attractive. Watch what you wish for though…relationships definitely won’t help keep you sane! 😜
Don’t sweat it, everybody is beautiful to someone.
That's the problem .
@@dickiewongtkain't know way boy
Ah well, most folks get their RC planes sent to them in black plastic bags these days - so you and me are all set up, Kemo Sabe! 😜🙄😂
I'm an 18 year old who got into flying about 4 years ago, one of the biggest engagers to me was flite test and peter stripol and after watching their youtube videos it got me hooked. It also was one of the reasons i'm going to college for aerospace engineering.
lol same
I love flite test
I got into it largely cause of the same channels around early high school as well. By then I already knew I wanted to do it regardless, but it just reinforced my desire to go to college for aerospace engineering. Here I am at the end of my last semester, about to graduate and with a job already lined up. Good luck with your studies!
A big thing I've noticed, doing both FPV and the more traditional RC planes, is that the FPV hobby is dominated by people below the age of 30, and fixed wing planes appeal more to older folks. The problem is that the fixed wing folks in my experience push away the FPV guys looking into the plane stuff because they think they're ruining the hobby. If these groups embraced each other more, we'd have so many more younger folks in the hobby
Well said!
I've noticed that a lot - I wonder if it's because the younger cohorts tend to have had a heavier video game presence in their lives, and quads seem much more video-game-like to fly? That said, I'm 35, game heavily but only like fixed-wing (no hate for quads, respect the skills, they just don't do it for me) but I gather I'm something of an oddity in that.
I hear the same drama. I noticed some pushback/skepticism from the older crowd when a FPV drone pilot joined our club hoping to record their planes in maneuvers. Some were satisfied to hear he changed to only interested in learning fixed wing, not drones. But I and others (older and younger) thought the idea to chase/record would be awesome and would like to learn more about FPV. In the end we learned when he could fly drones when certain club members weren't around.
I try both, have different fun😄
I think this is video and your comment are spot on together. As a drone enthusiast and FPV pilot, I've experienced the gatekeeping first hand. After spending a lot of time at the field in the off hours flying, and slowly meeting and getting to know the local club members, I became accepted and brought into the fold, but if the AMA really wants to bring in new members, they need to be much more aggressive about inclusion of drone and FPV pilot. On top of that, the AMA also needs to be much more aggressive and pursuing regulation that benefits drown in FPV pilots and not just RC aircraft. I think flight test has a much healthier attitude towards bringing in you pilots. I see the same thing happening in BMX and skateboarding, we're kids have the access to scooters, which can be a great gateway to skateboarding or BMX, but a lot of times they're turned off by both communities because of heckling and gatekeeping of spots or skate parks
As a 16 year old, I love flying my Rc planes. I started at like 12 years old and I have had so much fun. I consider myself lucky as I started this hobby with a friend and that I live in a fly in community, but now he is always gone to military school so I'm left alone, and I always wonder why none of my other friends want to do Rc. I still fly and I hope to make the best of my skills.
Start your own club with your friends. Come up with ways to get them engaged in the hobby with you. Flexibility is key. Good luck and keep at it if you enjoy it.
Keep at it and congratulations. You probably know by now that RC can give you WAY more skills than just flying, not to mention guts.
same here!
Hobbies don't really translate across relationships in my experience. When I was in a local RC club, it was just me coming together with other people that enjoyed that. Currently, I'm into boardgaming and kiteboarding as hobbies. My wife reluctantly humors me from time to time. Otherwise, my interactions are with other people, not in my friend group, that also like those things.
Same
The barrier to entry into R/C aircraft has always been high. Mainly because of the cost and the learning curve. I didn't get into it until I was a senior in HS when I had a job. Crashed my Kadet II and had to wait until I graduated college to be get back into it. That was back in the 1980's. Best chance to get into the hobby at a young age is to have a parent who's already hooked.
I think quads are getting the kids into rc these days. For 150 you have a complete beginner set with charger and goggles.
@@aviatoFPV for $159 you can get a top quality 17" Pitts Special with a gyro.
It's less than a PlayStation! Learning isn't that hard with all the safe technology. As long as you leave it on. Unlike I did. 😂 My first crash was 5 minutes into flying. Nose first at pretty high speed. Still only cost about 30 bucks to repair.
me and my father tried to revive an old nitro rc car that was given to us, spent a significant amount of money to fix it but never were able to make it run. back in the 90s we had no knowledge, friends or internet to learn from, so yeah, the barrier was huge.
Everything said here is true! The feeling of building and flying your own creations vs buying off the shelf just doesn't give you the same kind of satisfaction. The maiden flight of your own self built and designed aircraft is simply exhilarating!
The most satisfying part for me is pointing to the sky and saying "I Made That."
I am amazed at the club I belong to now, and its mostly older guys like me, that no one seems to build anything from a kit, except me. They all say the same thing, they would rather spend the time flying instead of building, but I really believe they are missing out.
I have been building RV airplanes since I was 9 yrs old and will be celebrating my 67th birthday in a few days. I bought a 40 acre farm to fly on, no regrets. I have almost 100 kits to build and many of the are no longer available. Notany today have the patience or skills to assemble a nice plane today. I lived in Kuwait for years and was told by many that I was the best builder in the country. I could build anything and sell it big bucks. @@jimbo44cc13
And that’s why as a fourteen year old, I fly helicopters so I don’t have to worry about space. Plus helicopters are easier to fly in my opinion.
Im 14 yo too, but i got into FPV Drones 3 years ago, I started flying rc planes 5 years ago
But im getting sick of it right now, every month something of my equipment breaks (I think its because of me only ~30% of the time) and I need to spend 30€-300€ to repair it, im always broke, ive spent 2000€+ on this hobby.
Im getting into mountainbiking now, its also expensive but my bike doesnt break every month.
When I was 14 I was only allowed to build planes for my old man, then watch him crash them. The local clubs snubbed my brother and I out too. In my 20s I got back into rc, but with helicopters. I liked the little ones, I could fly them in the house. I started buying bigger ones for more stability. Experimented with early foam electric planes, but they were more fragile than balsa. The new epo foam planes are reasonable in price and very forgiving. I have a small squadron of them. Six months ago I bought my 1st drone. Gotta admit, I kinda regret that was a snob about refusing to try them for so long. Those things are fun and much more forgiving than helicopters.
But the helicopters were my gateway drug into powered flight.
Same here, and then it evolved into flying fixed wing in state parks
I’m looking into rocketry instead and because all rockets are kits it’s very rewarding. When I go to a event I’m one of the few kids who made their rocket and fly it by myself and didn’t come along because I had to.
The lack of hobby stores is definitely a big issue. It's a hobby that I would like to get involved in one day, but hobby stores are all far away, prohibatively expensive, and normally out of stock of many things
3D is silly and a waste of time. Why would anyone want to do aerobatics that a real plane can't? They look ridiculous.
@@gowanturnbull1208 because it's fun
@@gowanturnbull1208because its fun? Ever heard of that?
@@gowanturnbull1208shits and giggles
Most of these hit the nail on the head for me. Especially the one about reaching a certain age and stepping away. When I got a job and a car and a girlfriend at 15, my RC hobby ended until I was around 30
Same for me besides adding a child in with the gf and car.
Exactly the same for me, once I hit 15 flying foamies on the weekend was replaced with going to bars. Now I'm 30 I am diving right back into the hobby and loving it more than ever!
Same, realizing I wasted all that hobby time on women.
@@S_T_A_R_K_Esame I started as a kid - 12 year break but now back at the hobby building my first fpv plane
Kinda the same , I think I stoped flying at 20 or 19 after a mayor crash hehe , my problem was university taking all my free time and money now I am 26 I hope I can go back to it at 30 I even have a brand new engine and plane all assembled that I never got to fly
I teach the kids once every year (as you know) in our 7th grade science classes. Did it for 14 years so far. I fly all types of models for them in the gym and explain how they work. Many seem excited at the time, but not many have pursued it. It seems those that fly, fly only drones. Good points in this video, Zack. Now we just have to figure out a solution. I would personally like to see AMA ads on TV, showing flying as you suggest, or even using this video. Fly easy! ~Dave
I wish my school had had someone like you!
@@bwc1976 Thanks very kindly.
My suggestion is they get trained, qualified, professional educators on it. Good pilots don't always make good teachers.
@@stevendaleschmitt Depends. If we are talking about an FAA brownshirt using that chance to gatekeep someone? No. If we are talking about actual teachers, well... most don't care as much as you'd like to wish they do about kids and I think the results of that have been showing for the past 20 years. Some don't even deserve to be teachers, but are simply because they have a piece of paper hanging on their wall, and I honestly don't see a lot of professional career pilots getting on board with RC aircraft. Some of them, sure, but there's a lot of them who very much treat flying as if it were an exclusive country club that only career pilots can get into, and anything threatening that hegemony is demonized. Since those same people run the FAA, the FAA subsequently establishes rules preventing undesirable people from flying. There is a reason that depression and other mental health issues are practically never reported by pilots and that is exactly the reason why Germanwings 9525 nose dived into the ground.
by drones you mean flying cameras or the proper thing?
When i was younger there was next to nowhere to fly and the club was so restrictive where you had to do a full blown safety course that would cost and then after that you were only allowed to fly in a pattern.
The rules and regulations of the RC hobby in the UK is so restrictive that its basically dead to many people
Yep learned when i was 12. could only fly patterns...
As a retired person that has flown for years I can tell you it's getting harder to find a place to fly. The cost of materials and rules by the FAA is taking the fun out of the hobby. The regulations will increase each year as the the FAA wants us out of the air.
The FFA is trying to destroy the hobby
14 years old and ive been into the hobby for about a year now. From a park flyer to a carbon cub S2, I am trying to get more challenging to fly aircraft in the future, but most importantly i have found a friend (and hopefully more in the future) who i got him into the RC hobby and he is going to purchase his first helicopter. Lastly, i should mention how supportive my father is in this hobby. he doesn't say no when i ask him to go out to the field and practice my flying and do other things. He also financially supports me just enough so i can have a fun time with a decent plane. thank you tailheavy for inspiring me to fly RC.
Yes! These are all great points. It makes me so happy whenever I see new youth at the field, especially when they try the hobby out because they saw one of my videos. As a side note, me and my friends all love building true kits! I’m a free flight nerd, but my friends love making Guillows/Dumas kits RC equipped. Great video!
as someone who started flying in middle school, I believe that all of these points are true. From my standpoint, it is essential to get parents involved to necessitate safety, but to also give the kid confidence while flying. I buddy-boxed for years, and I feel like that was super helpful. One other thing is that it is important to watch and see if your kid is getting better. I flew a sport cub for years as a kid, and it really did just get boring. As soon as I switched to the ArtiZan low wing airplane, my enjoyment skyrocketed. I also feel like a dedicated flying field isn't always necessary, I am lucky enough to have one close by, but I started flying in a parking lot with a used super cub. Some of the most fun I've had is fucking around with a umx timber at a baseball field with some friends. With the use of phones and Ipads, it will be extremely hard to pull younger kids out to fly. there really isn't a good way around it. it seems like if they aren't interested, you can't get them out to try it. but because of this, if you see a kid that is interested, jump on the chance and teach them everything you need to know.
Parents need to supply $$$. I guess you can make your kid to get a job to buy their own stuff but good luck with that.
Where you at ?
not so much the phones as the parents who gave it to them instead of raising them themselves.
@@stevendaleschmitt exactly lol. I'm glad I have great parents
I was talking to the president of one of our local clubs just yesterday about this very issue. I love the idea of having a youth group at the local club.
Every point you made is spot on. It's great that you suggested solutions to address the issues you brought up.
You forgot the part of the drone laws and regulations like the remote id and having to get a drone license here in Canada that all just pushes them away
Your video is spot on! It’s not just the RC hobby suffering the same problems getting the young interested. I’ve experienced the same old git attitude in model engineering clubs, model railway/railroad clubs and even in the full size railway preservation societies. And the very same people say that they need more youth involvement!
I couldn’t agree more! I started flying in 2019 because there was a local club that had a kids camp where I learned to build and fly an Electro-Glider. In 2020 I stopped with the RC hobby. But 2 years ago I got addicted to FPV and now I’m building new FPV Wings every week and I‘m enjoying Planes more than ever
Honestly, gig shout out to Bryan Connely from the video. He has a thriving youth group, and almost every single time I'm at the field with him, a bystander asks to join. He has it nailed to a science.
As member of the hobby in their late 20's, I've noticed that field/club availability and time are my two biggest limiters. The two "nearest" fields to my home are both a 1~2 hour drive oneway and I simply don't have the time in my life to make that trip enough times/week to make it worth the club fee and the gas prices. I'll fly a helicopter in my cul-de-sac or go to a local park to fly a glider or park plane, but it's just not reasonable to me to go to a dedicated field.
Depending on where you live, maybe you could start your own field!
We have same problems at our model rocket club but add "explosions'
Great video! Lots of great points. My club does a excellent job encouraging new members. There are also a few members that hold demonstrations at local schools for STEM programs. Model airplanes really teaches great values. Keep up the great work and love seeing those subs going up so quickly. Proof you guys are doing something right! 👍🏻👍🏻
Wonderfully done.
I was reminiscing just today about being around the house on Saturday and hearing the roaring whine of U line airplanes doing "combat" in the vacant lot down the block.
I sold all occasion cards and earned a Thimbledrone 049 u line plane.
65 years later, and I still fly an RC airplane.
Airplanes led to a great time in the Civil Air Patrol, the best kept secret in aviation. Keep up the good work!
As a fellow kid in the RC hobby, I found this video VERY truthful. The only way I'm flying is thanks to my dad, who flew RC long before I was born. He got one of my friends and I into it, and its pretty cool. My friend and I both now fly the Extreme Flight 48" MXS, mine's red and his is green (your MXS video helped with that lol).
I'm 17, it's becoming an addiction. I love planes man. Been flying with my dad since I was 11 or so and it's always been fun. As of recent I've come back to it and started to take it more seriously. I highly encourage people to get in the Hobby
I remember building plastic models as a kid and being in awe of the RC planes in the hobby shop but it was so expensive and my dad and I maxed out our woodworking skills at pinewood derby cars. We actually got one of those Arrows paper and balsa rubber band kits and I didn't know where to start and neither did he. I was stunned by how much more accessible it was to teach myself to fly with youtube and a ready-to-fly Carbon Cub now that I'm an adult that could even be repaired when someone ran me off the runway and I broke the tail off. You're entirely right about the greater investment when you build your own anything, but I think that could be more than balanced out by the lower barrier to entry these days. With the right environment this could be a golden age for the hobby. One of those RTF setups fits an X-mas budget far better than anything I knew of back in the day.
This is literally my current life goal, thanks to you guys. Getting as many people into the hobby as I can.
Why? That's why we are in this mess. I have been flying for 35 years. Only recently have I had any issues. It's the new people to the hobby that have messed it up. That and the ARF's. Having to build your aircraft yourself weeds out the people that usually cause trouble.
@@scottyh72 hahaha
wait you're not joking?
oh btw I'm all about building.
But also if you're serious, shut up. Tower Hobbies didn't die because "there was too many people buying stuff" The complete opposite problem.
@ignasanchezl Look at every break out activity. It always gets worse with more people. Mtb, snowboarding, 4wheeling, you name it. More people means more rules broken, and then rule makers notice. If you're under 30, this won't make sense to you....
@@ignasanchezl Who shops at tower hobbies?
Very good points! I can think of a couple other issues on the "parents" side:
One is concerns about safety. Back in the day, kids were let loose to go have fun however they pleased. My mom and her brothers played with firecrackers as kids, you never see that now (and that in particular I think is probably a good thing). Some parents might think that R/C planes are dangerous. But more than the planes themselves, it compounds with the issues like the parents having to take the kids to the field. Back in the day, kids rode wherever they wanted on their bicycles, now, in spite of having phones that would let parents keep tabs on their kids at all times or the kids could call for help if needed, very few kids do that, and are entirely reliant on their parents to go anywhere - far less independent. Same goes for riding public transit alone. I'm 28, I actually did ride my bicycle everywhere in middle and high school, but none of my classmates did. A lot of parents would probably want far more vetting of the adults involved as well, far more controlling of who their kids are around.
Another is the decline of hobbies in general. Kids are far less encouraged to invest effort into things for the fun of it. At one time, kids were told "All ya gotta do is go to school, get okay grades, that will be enough to get you a factory job like daddy's that will give you a secure salary you can buy a house and support a family and stay at home wife with. The rest of your time is to do with as you wish, do something fun!" Then, I get the sense in the '80s, there was the "every kid's gotta become a millionaire or they and their parents are failures" mindset, followed by the more recent "If you don't have two degrees and a million extra-curriculars (and likely even if you do) you'll never make a living wage" reality. Kids are pressured to "excel" in every way, a lot more time spent doing homework, organized extra-curriculars, extra studying, and so on. If something couldn't in some justifyable way contrubte to the kid's eventual career prospects, it's not worth doing. No time or mental capacity left over for any sort of demanding hobby, all kids can do with what's left of their brain is mindlessly consume TikTok videos.
Solution that might be to provide the hobby in a way that accommodates these concerns: make it into an organized extra-curricular school-sponsored activity. Host it at the school (most schools have fields that would be great for flying foamies) with background-checked teachers. Make a big point made about the vocational and STEM skills it teaches, so that it actually has "value." This would also help the "no other kids" issue the video described. Many schools have robotics clubs, why not an R/C flying club? Or for that matter, some schools have E-sports clubs, I think if that can gain traction R/C flying (or perhaps R/C vehicles in general) ought to have a chance.
That's a good point around extracurriculars and the expectations attached to them. You see it even in hobbies like visual art or music, there's a lot of pressure nowadays to turn every activity into a "side hustle" rather than have it be something for its own sake, or, unimaginably, just fun. I'm so used to that I assumed it was always the way, but it's interesting to hear that it was less so a generation or two back.
@@rcbinchicken Yeah, exactly. Everything has to be commodified, somehow productive, either for profit, prestige, or a narrowly-defined sort of "wellness" (so fitness is allowed and encouraged - at least as long as it's tracked in some way). It really sucks, the idea that our entire lives exist to make money, not to, you know, live.
I'm only 28 years old so I've not known a different time, but I get the sense it was different in past generations. Even just pop culture, movies, anything from past times that showed how kids spent their free time (which existed then). I know it is in different cultures (I'm from the US), I traveled to Amsterdam a couple years ago and was amazed to see so many people chilling in parks. Just ... existing. Happily enjoying themselves, no expectations, no "hustle," no "grind." They looked so blissfully happy, in a way American culture would immediately deride as "lazy."
The good news is I'm seeing a lot of younger people, totally burned out on life due to this, starting to push back, to say "let's just enjoy activities for their own sake, seek joy rather than profit, work to live rather than live to work." I'm guessing you're part of that simply by noticing and acknowledging this and longing for something different, as am I. So maybe there's hope that this will change eventually. And that if or when we raise our own kids, we'll encourage them to do stuff they enjoy - including building and flying toy planes if that interests them.
As a Boyscout Teamleader, i can confirm: it is a nasty Hard wirklich to get todays kids to the point where they do things that last longer then 10 minutes, needs work to be done, are based on a growing expierience, .......we cannot let grow a fire what parents did not lightened up. Most parenta killed their kids phantasy ,m endurance and will to explore by giving them electronic devises. The colatteral damage is out of proportional, but society still praises this as a good thing
I gotta say you got that hobby store part right on the head. Literally how I got into the hobby as a kid.
I always get questions when I’m flying at the park, and I always try to bring some old beater like an arrow, or I used to have a Storch which flew beautifully until the lifecycle happened. I trained 4 people on that plane, 2 were kids. One of which I saw flying his own plane a few weeks ago!
But a lot of this can be applied to other hobbies, mainly rocketry. Where there isn’t a whole lot of youth involved either (besides littles Estes stuff, which everyone starts somewhere, or they can only go so far). But I’ve always seen the older folks always be welcoming, and helpful to the youth who come to the range. And that’s definitely a reason why I’ve gone so far in that hobby, and I wish the plane community was more like that. And yes, I know it can, but not always.
And I hope to continue my connection with flying throughout college! Especially since one of the final projects for aerospace engineers is to design and build a plane from scratch! (And I want to have a bit of a leg up on the competition)
As a kid. I can confidently say you hit the nail with the hammer. The club I’m a part of actually did advertising and that is the only reason I’m sitting with 4 planes today. I went to that field and I was immediately welcomed warmly and I got my hands on a aeroscout from one of the club members. I did my first flight in one with him. And then went and bought my own aeroscout. Then after that is history. I went again one time when I just got my ultimate 3D and saw this guy do a KE spin. I watched him do that and I worked every day I could to get it down. And now I have it down. And yes, it’s so much easier when your enticed by the planes at the hobby shop.
I bought an Aerobird 2 on a whim around 2012 and did some crazy things with that little plane. Unforgettable. Great little plane that is now the Scout.
I'm in high school and I'm actually a pretty avid flyer. My parents are supportive about it as long as I spend the money I make, and they'll drive me to the nearest flying field about an hour away as long as I bring my younger brothers with me to play at the nearby park. I mostly use ultra-micro planes as they are cheaper to maintain and I can fly them around in my grandparent's backyard (only a 10 minute drive away). I have dabbled in scratchbuilds and it is a very rewarding experience. I do hope this hobby can survive at least as long as I can live, as this is one of my main hobbies and I really enjoy it.
I gotta say to you guys...your production quality is far beyond some larger rc channels on here fr. Keep it up! Im surprised your subs haven't blown up yet.
A nicely balanced, well produced video. Thank you. (FYI, I'm an old geezer that pretty much matches your description of "how a youth gets into RC"). My hope is to inspire my "grand kids" into trying this hobby (alas I failed to do so with my kids...although I did have 1 sone who did some flying and actually soloed after practicing on an RC Simulator for a couple month). Thanks again.
I think a lot of kids could be introduced to RC flying if a good RC sim came out on Xbox/Playstation, maybe even included with game pass/playstation plus
As always Zach, excellent video! Huge thanks to Bryan Connelly as well, he's been such a huge factor in getting youth membership and parents to our field, and is one of the primary reasons why our field is continuing to thrive. I've been to events at other fields in the past and I often been asked how can fields attract younger members. I feel lucky to be part of a field that has a large youth membership and I feel grateful for the all the members that are part of our club, no matter the age.
Great video, as a baby I saw my dad fly rc planes and with my mild Asperger’s I was hooked at the age of 4 when he placed a transmitter in my hands. Now 30 years have gone by and I couldn’t live my life without my precious hobby.
42 yrs old and startet the hobby 10yrs ago. Most foam warbirds. I love to weathering and re-camo my birds. What i love the most is: You (usualy) need to look up. Put'n your eyes away from the crap down here. You get another perspective (specially if flying FPV). So refreshing!
One major things that has changed is that you can't build from a kit or scratch for what an ARF costs. So the loss of building skills is gone. Another problem is the availability of hardware and materials to build a traditional balsa model are difficult to find and are very cost prohibitive.
I recently visited a club with the intent on joining. I was literally driven out of the place. I went to a different club and joined.
I'm a teen and I've been wanting to join the RC hobby for a while now but the thing keeping me from it is the cost
I started at about 15 after having watched RC test flight. I was always drawn to the building part of the aircraft and have scratch built all but one of my aircraft (a bixler 2). It wasn’t easy and I still have yet to fly with any other RC pilots at all, but it’s among the coolest things I’ve done.
36 and started with a guillows balsa kit. Always had an interest in the ww2 warbirds. Mastering the agility of a fighter really helps the enjoyment factor i was surprised when i flew my first Cub as the high wing adds stability but costs you agility. My daughter (12) has flown several cubs and a b-17.
It’s not only important to get kids into this hobby for the hobby but it’s also important for aviation because a lot of pilots started there interest in aviation with rc planes so if the hobby dies there might be a pilot shortage in the future as well
There's already a pilot shortage. But as a pilot, i only know a couple of pilots that care about RC
as a recent young adult in the uk my main issue getting into rc planes and drone was regulation the electronics are cheap enough (used to at the very least) and building a quad or rc plane isnt that big of a hurdle its just that i cannot be bothered to check if i am within compliance with the CAA , thankfully most of my neighbours are really nice and I stopped caring if i was complying or not with the CAA because the cops in my area are so overworked and underpaid they cant bring themselves to stop some snotty kid from flying his quad
Model airplanes is what started my fascination with aviation. I started flying models probably around 8years old, some of my best memories were flying with the guys at the model field. Landing at night for the first time with minimal lights. Flying by myself for the first time, they did the whole solo thing cut the back of my shirt off.
All the guys were always very supportive and helpful with me teaching me aerodynamics and why different alterations of the models were effective. I’ve always loved the model airplane community and it’s what got me started in flying.
I fell down the Flite Test rabbit hole, and my son came along for the ride (Tiny Trainer and Bloody Baron are his favorites). Now he also flies a Flite Test P-40 and Freewing MiG-15. I took him to Edgewater and Flite Fest 4 times in the last 5 years.
Hey Guys, I.M.O. this by far is the very best video you have posted. Your script is spot on all points. Getting kids interested is by parent participation, and the local C.B.O. actively encouraging and engaging the community at large. Thanks for posting!
Thank you!
Good job Zach and Ben. Being able to hear different ideas and take criticism is important.
If we had the majority of members and clubs simply embrace no. 1 alone we would see more kids AND adults in this hobby. My motto when anyone shows up to fly anywhere - EVERYONE FLIES! Adults don’t get away with saying “no thanks”. I tell them I want you to experience the challenge yourselves, it will take your support and besides, you may just enjoy it! They are in the air in minutes and we are creating fun and smiles. Leave the “devil is in the details”, aka rules and memberships and theory for later, after the fun and smiles. It’s fun and rewarding. I’d also add getting out into the education community to engage STEAM teachers. Professional development is paid time to work on things like aeromodeling curriculum.
This will be shared guys. 👍🏻
Good teachers can make life-long devotees. Bad teachers can drive anyone away from any topic forever, and often do. Good pilots do not necessarily make good trainers.
35 year-old here. I've been in the hobby since I was a teenager, just when electric park flyers were becoming a thing. That was lucky for me, because the couple times I've visited a field, I haven't been too thrilled with the experience. I'd rather just go fly by myself and enjoy some peace and quiet without having to deal with the personalities, dues, rules, and waiting your turn to fly. I'm currently enjoying flying my UMX Radian in the backyard and working on a sub-250g 3D printed FPV plane. Hoping to get one or both of my daughters interested in it.
when i was 5yearsold my dad took me to a hobby town and I saw those beloved rc model aircraft and when I was 10 i got my first rc aircraft and was happy w/ it now I am 12 and have a 4ch rc plane that acts like a an actual 3d aircraft its awesome
Thank You Tail Heavy for the great content and the light you bring to the hobby
As a 12 year old going into turbine rc I think this is partially correct although as I go to more and more rc events I see more kids wanting to get into the hobby.
I only had 1 rc plane before, and it was for my 12th birthday. I don't want to get another because I don't want to waste my 1 birthday present on something I'm just gonna break in 1 day but I might just get one for my 13 birthday do you have any suggestions on what model I should get?
You are VERY fortunate to have rich parents that support you.
@@jacobingram147 E-Flite apprentice in the Rtf package. It was my first plane and I had a lot of fun with it.
@@solarsynapseI agree my parents are very supportive but also very strict. It’s not like my parents just go out and buy me an expensive airplane.
@@Brady_Knifedgeyou fly turbines. When you say strict you probably mean they take your laptop away from you when you buy a $4000 jet engine
The parents being involved is right on… my dad and I got into this at the same time and now I fly every day if I can and it wouldn’t happen without him.
ama is only useful as a insurance company for flying fields
I respectfully disagree...
@@old_coastie You are very much welcome to. Counter arguments are welcome.
I built free flight and RC aircraft with my father at 14 years of age. I taught my three sons the hobby when they were young as well. My oldest son got his pilots license as soon as he turned 17 and then went to the Air Force Academy. He graduated in 1995 and went on to a career flying the F-15E retiring as a Lt Col. My youngest son went to Washington State University and there joined the Air Force ROTC program and after graduation trained on the F-15E, became a senior fighter pilot and then transferred to the F-35 program and taught new F-35 pilots about air combat.
My whole family were aviators, my father owned a Stearman in the late 1930’s. He was a flight engineer on a Sikorsky VS-44 flying boat and flew the Atlantic in 1942 and 1943. He couldn’t pilot the VS-44 due to hearing loss in one ear and he was 4F for military service. I took flying lessons when I was 30 years of age after serving in Vietnam. I owned my own Cessna for about 6 years and taught all my children to fly.
It all started with someone who loved “Flight” and was willing to teach others. Now my flying is mostly RC, I build my own designs. My oldest son has a nice older Mooney that I can fly on occasion! 🙂
You hit the nail on the head and have put everything so well laid out in a video for things I've been trying to convey to others.
To add the to “pay to win” point y’all made, the new features and gizmos marketed to beginners (SAFE/fancy transmitters/smart batteries/autopilots) actually make it more frustrating to get airplanes set up in my opinion. There’s so much more procedures & setup you need to mentally buy into with these sorts of things. Sometimes they work first try, but when they don’t, good luck figuring out your problem with no prior experience/context. Did you set up your smart radio? Did you calibrate your magnetometer? Could you figure out the smart battery charger? All things that would get me to give up before even making it out to the field. Getting out to the field and immediately crashing a basic 3ch would get me more amped up than having to learn what SAFE is, why I need it, and how to turn it on with my radio & make sure it’s working correctly
I've been wanting to recommend more basic airplanes for the same reasons.
Plus I don't want people locked into Spectrum.
Too bad it's literally impossible to find cheap EPP or EPO trainer airframes anymore, because on the other side, generic electronics are cheaper than they've ever been.
That stuff would have driven me up the wall, I started the hobby within that era but I'm glad I was too broke to afford any of it! 😛
The gate keeping is so true! I cannot stand all the BS the old men talk about how the hobby is dying but then want to be a grumpy butt hole when my kids have questions about something. Heck even when my grown ass 30 year old husband (whose been flying since he was a child) starts talking about things they try and shut him down like he doesn't know anything. I cant go to the field cause I speak my mind 😂
Im 12 and love the hobby, love chatting about models and learning more from people at my flying club! Also learning more skills on aerobatics! I started with a UMX Timber X learned simple aerobatics with is then did lots of work and the neighborhood and at home bought 2 more UMX planes to fly at my local park, then got a deal on a Timber X 1.2m that needed work, got it flying 3 months ago and still fly it to day, also have a Areoscout and a consendo Evo
I'm a dad and my son and I scratch built and flew a high wing a few years back. He's a busy lad with school and sports but loves the RC world and doing something "real" - not the virtual world his mates seem to enjoy. It certainly takes a parent to be involved, especially at the 11 to 14yo age range IMHO. Cheers and great to be thinking along these lines. Dave (Sydney)
We fly as a family. My wife and daughter fly often, my baby girl, 21 months is working on a simulator and she surprisingly understands it!
Good morning, I've been waiting all week for this.
I was beating myself up the one day. I took my kit made DLG to a church and a child asked to fly it. Of course I said no, but then I had the instant reflection of what it was like being a curious kid around nay-saying adults. Makes me want to get a UMX cub for such moments.
P.S. Nice touch on the Grinder page on the tablet!
Here a 15 year old kid. I started woth rc when i was 6 with a 10€ toy drone for inside wich i got for my birthday. I loved it so much that i got a much better one (still a toy) for sinterklaas (sort of Christmas). When i was 12 and now having a big camara drone (no dji allready hated those), I got kinda bored of just hovering a drone so a couple of freinds of my dad introduced me into fpv drones. I got lucky that i have so many supportive people around me, that just help me with every problem i need help for. But then me and my father got a great idea for a plane. Only one problem i couldn't build or fly them. I just bought some foamboard and a 30 dollar electronic set and started building. After a day of building me and my friend who has rolled bassicly the same in this hobby, got a "plane". We bike to a field and trow the thing in the air. It flew left right left right up down to the other side where it "landed". We cheer and go back home to fix it and solve its problems. And after a year of that in repeat we now have a plane with a wingspan of 3 meter that flew first try. I do need to say that i have a lot of really generous people around me who have given me motors and servo's sometimes even planes. I can not thank them anough. By the way i really don't like flying clubs because when i visited them they took littery 3 hours to check my plane and then i could fly in trainer mode :/ yes it flew but would it have flown before those 3 hours yes i think so. And there are just no young people, i am luxky to have 2 friends who are also in this hobby and i just always fly with them in our field.
3 meters? Damn, sounds like whatever approach you've taken it's working for you. 😁
0:08 I think that your targeting me 😢
Im 17 and I started with the hobby 7 years ago at a local modelling club ,I built my first rc glider and after that I would have probably quited but the thing that kept me in the hobby was the opportunity to compete at local competitions and eventualy I endet up competing in the FAI competitions like F3K (discus launch gliders) and FAI Space modelling so in my opinion the competition would give a lot of kids one more reason to eventually stay in the hobby because it gives a balance between having fun with flying and eventually having the adrenaline that a lot of kids need
Nothing beats the fun and educational experience while building from plain balsa and ply planks.
PERFECT explained! Best RC Channel Hands down.. I really hope the big companies will also appreciate your work at some point..
Thanks! We do, too.😉
Hey, just wanted to say that I just got into rc and you have been full of great information! I love how you are able to keep the videos informing yet still super entertaining. As I kid I always wanted to fly rc and now that at 17 yrs old I can afford to it has been great. Keep up the great videos!!!
Thanks! Welcome to an awesome hobby.
I am 17 and have always wanted to fly RC since I remember. When I was 12, i got my first plane, then learned flying, became better, even did 3D and Pattern Aerobatics. Now I am in aeronautical college, learning the theory of aircraft design, designing my own 3D printed Aircraft and fly gliders.
The wish to fly RC planes is pretty much the base of my whole life until now and will probably be the base of my carreer.
Even though spending 100+ hours per week in the workshop almost felt depressing in the end, when I was 15. I am happy I did it that way.
This has to be one of the best videos explaining the reasons why we dont see many kids at the field. I always preach, get the parents involved the kids will follow.
I'm 14, I started flying RC planes between 5-6 and haven't stopped since, my dad flyes from about the same age as me, and we've always loved aviation since we fly full scale as well, I don't plan to stop flying and it's rewarding to see how I started flying a crappy micro from Eflite to fly IMAC with a 60cc Skywing Lazer, I don't have friends who fly rc, they think it's boring but honestly I don't care if it makes me happy I'm fine with it, the people I've to meet and the thing I've learned with this hobby, full scale as well, to me are amazing at this age, definitely something I love and I will not stop doing. I do have to recognize I'm lucky to have been born in a world surrounded by aviation My dad has a flite school in full scale and we have a container full of RC planes in our club which is CACH in Chile, it's probably the reason I'm so into this and I also have him to teach me as well. I also like making Flite test models with not too expensive parts and flying them in random places, which if you don't have any other option is a great way of getting into this hobby, there are some easy to build and fly models and at fields there are always people who are willing to help.
I am a 15 year old pilot. I started flying three years ago. I started with Flite Test videos when I was younger which got me hooked on RC planes. I collected parts for many years, but never built any planes. In 2020 I found a local hobby shop. This was one of many blessings. I got assistance and built my first plane, a FT-22 I wrecked it, and kept building and flying other aircraft. Other blessings that made my journey in to RC possible were my parents supporting me. They gave me a job to help pay for the hobby, and we’re happy to take me to the hobby shop/flying field. Another was the club. There were few requirements to join, and fly, and no one was bothered when my lack of skill sent my plane into the ground. Even more they offered me advice, and even parts, and entire kits. Without the blessings I mentioned here, I may have never joined this great hobby, and I appreciate all the help I received.
I got interested as a 70's kid because my first grade teacher's husband donated all his RC magazines to the class. I read all of them, RC planes were the only thing I cared about for a long time. :) That was back when a 2 channel setup cost $500, didn't get my first RC plane until about 10 years later, but I built gliders and rubber powered models while I waited. Still flying two 3D planes, one electric and one nitro and a fleet of LOS and FP drones.
I started when I was 5 years old because my brother who was 9 started. We did everything outdoor free-flight, control line scale & combat, 1/8th stock car racing, rc planes and later on rc helicopters. We did this in the 1970s and we've been doing it ever since. We worked jobs at the local grocers to get the cash. We both did STEM subjects at university later on. It's the best thing kids can do to get ahead in life to learn how to work with their hands and be highly technical. Also it was a great way to bond as a family. Dad just provided transport if he was around otherwise we would get around using our bicycles. You can start your 1/8th scale cars using the back wheel of a bike. We also learnt how to repair our models since there was no such thing as a ready to fly.
Being able to buy a RDF plane off the shelf is actually what was able to get me into the hobby. Though now that it has seen a lot of use I am running into the issue of maintenance and have no idea what I am doing, so I haven't flown for a long time.
I am a Ten year old child my very first plane was an old beat bixler 2 I fixed that it up and it flew like a dream I had a great madein flight. I really appreciate what you are doing over at tail heavy productions.😊
That’s awesome! 👍
6:10 Had that exact experience when i was a couple years younger, got to a hobby shop originally for model train stuff, found a cheap plane that looked alr. The employee asked if it was the first one and refused to sell it even tho i had experience with racing drones. Well nowadays im still up in the air with racing drones but cant find any budget planes, yes you have flighttest but shipping it to Europe is a no-go for me.
As a 13 yr old ILOVE to fly my rc airplane I can do it at my house I’m even 3D printing things for it and I would LOVE to get a Cessna 172 Skyhawk rc plane because I want to fly in it when I grow up! I will NEVER stop doing this because I LOVE it don’t worry there are still people out there to keep the hobby growing and going!!!!
That twin Timber looks so nice ugh. Can't wait to see more of that plane in videos!!
I think you'll find you may not want one after we do our review on it hahaha
I'm a train guy. I don't know how I landed here, but we're seeing a pretty similar issue in trains.
My club has a mix of problems between old vanguard and new models not offering any learning experience.
Geezers complain about how kids run their trains without offering any instruction about safe and responsible (doesn't need to be realistic) operation. I'm really hoping our new ops layout and future circle burn rebuild will help with that.
Kits and undecorated models are falling out of favor these days. Most kids (and even adults) will just grab the fully equipped locomotive with no modifications and run it. If it does need work, most just pawn off the upgrade on the hobby shop or never learn more than plug and play installs. Not too many people are picking up the basic rolling stock kits anymore.
Fortunately, it's not totally lost. My club has one younger guy who has actually been pretty responsible with his running and has shown to be fairly capable at building basic kits. We're looking at giving him a couple old kits the club recently acquired to rebuild them if he's interested.
I know I'm guilty of gatekeeping, but there's only so much incorrect Union Pacific trivia I can take from someone who should be capable of learning how to do more than plug and play.
Another banger my dudes!
I Juss got this lil kid in my complex into the planes.
Begged his dad for a month and now he’s gone from the sport cub to the aeroscout 1.2
We mustn’t stop until every family in America flys rc planes and drives rc cars 😂
See y’all next week!
finally got me subscribing.... not gonna tell the story how i started out when i was 11, instead just a quick "chapeau" for all the truth that has been spoken.
i got into it at age 11 with a Silverlit X-Twin Plane back in 2007 and never stopped from there. My Dad enabled that hobby by buying us all kinds of broken/used stuff of auctions (like Ebay but from my country). Building and fixing Models is half the fun. You don't need the latest and greatest to have fun, especially if you fly or live far enough away from civilisation, an old MHz Transmitter still does a good job and can be obtained for pennies. Brushed Motors also spin and fancy AS3X Stuff is not required to fly.
i used to have a Hobbyzone Aerobird Xtreme with it's stock radio but a 2S3P Li-Ion Battery that we soldered up from a unused Laptop Battery, surely not the most ideal thing but it increased my flight time to 40 Minutes from a meager 10 Minutes with the original NiCD Brick at the cost of 0$.
It's more possible than ever, to get into RCing for cheap, but the interest to tinker is required.
as a thirteen-year-old myself, I love flying RC airplanes, but I always don't have a large place to fly. There are no hobby shops nearby because they all went out of business. All of my friends had RC cars, but they just don't use them. I would love to have a large field to fly in, but the best I have is my school field. Love your work keep going strong.
This is why I have what we call fly-day Fridays at the school where I work. I bring in a couple of umx models and two controllers and spend a few minutes buddy boxing with each of the students that are interested. It has lead to a few getting their parents to buy them trainer models. I am super interested in the stem program from flite test, however it is a little daunting to take on on-top of all the other things I have to do.
Great point about getting groups of kids involved at the same time
Around 8 years ago, at the school library, there was a book about aircraft. Being intrested in aircraft and ships was always a thing. What this particular book had, was a page on how to build a glider and another one about a simple rubber powered helicopter. By then I was building static model aircraft out of lamina, tape and markers, but none for flying. That book sparked an intrest into Free Flight. So I started experimenting with whatever materials was around. Of course, having an aircraft made out of cardboard, lamina and tape results in a brick. Gliders made of lamina and in smaller scale fared more better and stronger. Still, I was longing for an aircraft that could fly longer, and higher. So my parents took me to an old Hobby store and bought me an R/C Piper cub, and a gillows rubber powered Jetstream, which I cherished more. The Piper didn't last long before I crashed it and broke the wing. The Jetstream lasted a little longer until the prop bearing broke. After that I continued to build. By 2016, I was building aircraft from your average party foam plates and by the summer of 2017, tape was no longer used in construction. Instead, I went on to use Glue, so to lighten the aircraft. From that moment onward, many aircraft were built, but only a few passed. By 2019, with a fleet of around 30 aircraft, balsa wood was discovered, but it was too late, for after more than 5 years of bad luck, I gave up, and moved on to Free Sailing. The reasons for the change was 1: hobbie stores were I live (Which is Malta) are almost non existent. Sure, there are a shop or two, but none cater for free flight, not even for free sailing. Sourcing materials like Rubber, wheels and props, all had to come from outside. 2: The fields I used to go was in the golf course and another full of rocks. There aren't any areas to go except for two R/C fields, which are too small and certain that only members can enter. And 3: Even after converting to foam and glue, almost all the aircraft I built failed to fly, no matter how hard I tried to build them according to the plans, and countless hours of watching TH-cam and browsing the Internet, Bad luck was most of the time around the corner. In the end, I only had a few aircraft to be proud of, but they didn't last. Im 19 now, and now facing the same dilemma on free sailing. I recently moved my "shipyard" from the same place I spent countless hours building those birds. Sometimes, I wonder if I should close up the shop. Just like the lack of fields, only after a fine gale could I ever watch my hard work do its thing. In that sector, I also suffer from bad luck. This video had said about the same things that I had experienced before. I was around 13 when I was interested, and even to this day I am longing to build one more bird.
im 15 and just got into the rc plane stuff with a volantex (or eachine) corsair and its great fun and i want to collect the whole warbird series!
(Australia) Mate and I went to our local field to see about getting back into the hobby. Both flew at clubs in our teen years. Migrated to park flyers during our 20s when bills > income. Gave it up in our 30s when career and family obligations got serious. Now in our 40s income > bills and we can afford anything in the hobby shop, but the clubs are filled with seniors who have deeply curated pecking orders and a bill of rights and rules. Needless to say we walked away and rekindled our other hobbies.
Once anything starts costing more than $150 or so, it gets quite a bit harder to convince mom & dad to buy in. The price of everything needed to do it well and also keep things interesting (not too dumbed down or underwhelming) adds up quickly. If you invest in a good controller and enough batteries to keep you at the park more than 10 minutes, it can be disappointing if the kid still gets bored too fast - so that's what makes parents wary of it.
Regardless of all that, scratch-built foamies which are small and slow enough to be considered park-flyers are probably the best bang-for-the-buck starting out. That reduces the need to go to some designated area and most NIMBY or regulation barriers. And instead of crying about something crashing, foamies made of what amounts to junk tend to be something you can laugh about as long as you can recover the electronics out of it for the next project you come up with.
my dad bought one years and years ago and I remember us spending nights building that (mostly me just holding a piece and him doing all the work cuz I was like 5 or 6 lmao). I think this is the video I needed to get off the reminding my dad about it every other year just for nothing to happen. now I'm 16 I can actually help :)
Our club has been working with the local high school. We have had 2 classes over the past 2 yrs. It is under the school STEM program. We are very fortunate the teacher embraced the ideal when we approached her and the school about it. Club members go to the school over late winter/early spring to assist the teacher/help the kids build there FliteTest kits, the Tiny Trainer. Then they come out to our club field once the weather is decent. IT IS VERY REWARDING. And as expected we've got the members who comment it is not bringing in new young members. Those of us who volunteer/donate to the program (WHICH COSTS THE CLUB NOTHING) pretty much ignore them... It's something we enjoy and don't expect anything from it. We do have 3/4/5 old members (70+) who come out and watch the flying day and the glowing smile on their faces and the faces of the kids is all the reward we need 🤣🤣🤣. It's been pretty much the same both years. 1/2 the kids are all in first thing they get to the field, 1/4 are on the fence and embrace it once we get started, the other 1/4... well they participate. Teacher has told us both times, "its the same in the classroom". However both classes have said the same thing, "best field trip the have ever had for school". Feeding them burgers probably helps 😜😜😜. We do post frequently to Facebook and that is getting us some hits to our club page for older (30's/40's/50's) people interested in getting back in or starting anew in the hobby (so maybe the program is paying off 🤪🤪🤪). We get a lot of kudos from random people when we post the high school STEM program stuff. The biggest benefit so far is it has "opened the door" with the local municipalities (City and County). They are now entertaining the ideal of letting us use a parcel of municipal land for our club field. With the condition that youth programs would be free of course. I think another thing that is going to kill clubs is the cost of their flying site if they lease the property as we do... It is 3/4 of our budget annually. Membership is declining because people are literally passing away... 😕😕😕. If we cannot establish a deal with our local municipality in the next 3/4 years I don't know how we will survive unless we double/triple our dues. Catch 22 there though, dues get to high and members will bail for that as well...
I’m teaching my best friend to fly rc planes and she describes it as “The coolest hobby I’ll never have.” The amount of learning and equipment is a turn-off but she’s happy to come out with me and buddy-box on my planes. My goal is to get her confident enough we each fly something together.
12 yrs, just started flying some mini warbirds. I got a p-47 and a spitfire that i bought. Both are volantex starter planes. I haven’t done a maiden of the p-47 yet as the weather in britain is screaming no!
I love you guys Tail Heavy. Tail Heavy > Flight Test
Bit off topic but, my local rifle club had a similar dilemma, how to get kids into the hobby. It took a lot of work on the part of members and some changes to how we ran our weekly events, but it turned around , we are a small country club but currently we have around 120 members of which around 20 are junior members.
Im a 13 year old getting into the hobby i started when i was 11 or so build a plane with no schematic or anything and a ten second flight persude but that got me loving the hobby, 2 years later im building a scout out of foamboard with my dad, i cant wait to get out onto a feild and fly it.
I haven't been around RC for a huge amount of time (maybe 5yrs), but what got me to pull the pin on buying drone equipment was being able to buy a reasonably priced radio and practice on a simulator using it. A radio and simulator is significantly cheaper than a model which you could smash on the first flight, and if I try the simulator and hate it I'm only out like $150 total at worst and I can resell the radio
All of your points are spot-on. Your comments about the AMA especially resonate with me. They've always struck me as utterly out of sync with the greater RC audience. I'm approaching an age that most people would call old but the AMA could not be less interesting to me. All they ever talk about is Nats and camps and I couldn't care less about either one. Yeah, I have a membership but it's only for the insurance.