| Have you ever had a hobby or sport that lasted for | | | | Incidentally, my workaday time was spent at a major |
| your whole life? I mean, from when you were a kid | | | | aircraft company in California, building wind-tunnel |
| until you were a grown person? A lot of things that | | | | models and demos for the marketing department. |
| you have done as a child lost its interest as you grew | | | | What a thrill that was for me. |
| older. It takes a lot of dedication for an undertaking to | | | | And as time passed, I changed employment and |
| last all your life. | | | | geographical locations several times. But I never did |
| Such an hobby has consumed me from childhood to | | | | lose my interest in model making and I still am involved |
| my grown life. And that hobby is model airplanes. To | | | | in the minature world. Now I make various models for |
| be more specific, models of all sorts, including ships, | | | | clients in my home, really filling my hours with the thrill of |
| architectural, trains and more. But model planes are the | | | | crafting the real world in miniature. |
| most consuming. My first efforts at this skill began | | | | But there is a new vision on the horizon for me to |
| when I was in elementary school and I was | | | | explore. Always being consumed with aviation, the |
| obscessed with military airplanes. I began with light, | | | | chance to pilot a jet-powered airplane has always |
| fragile models, powered by a twised rubber band, that | | | | been a dream. A little experience in jets while in the |
| were capable of short flights in my own backyard. | | | | military peaked my interest and sparked the dream to |
| As I became older and bolder, I graduated to powered | | | | fly jets. Never having the chance to do so in real life |
| flight with simple glow-plug engines. A lot of cracked | | | | did not dampen the dream. |
| knuckles before I managed to have an electric starter | | | | Now, combining jets with my love of modeling has |
| for my planes. Sore fingers never stopped me and it | | | | been given a chance to do just that. The recent influx |
| grew into U-control flying my models. It didn't matter to | | | | of model turbines, in conjunction with sophisticated |
| me that I was limited to a small circle on any clear spot | | | | methods of construction, has me chomping at the bits |
| I could find in town. That is, until I was chased away to | | | | to fly a jet again. Several companies are building ARF |
| find another reasonable location. That lasted until I | | | | replicas of various military jets that are powered with |
| discovered the real thrill of flying in radio control. | | | | genuine jet engines. They fly like their big brothers, they |
| I was living in California by this time and I found radio | | | | sound like the real thing, they smell like the real |
| controlled gliders. I could not believe the freedom of | | | | thundering jets. Officially classified as UMV by the |
| tossing my carefully crafted soaring models off a cliff | | | | FAA, all the thrill of the real thing has been brought to |
| overlooking the Pacific ocean into the strong breeze | | | | the average person. |
| and carefully soaring the updraft and back over the | | | | I can't wait until I can get into the cockpit, figuratively |
| cliff to once again circle back into the wonderful | | | | speaking, of an A4 or F16 and show my Top Gun |
| breeze, never changing my wave of excitement. As | | | | stuff. It may be a little like Joe Cool but it will be very |
| long as the batteries of my plane held up, I would soar | | | | close to the real thing. That is my next step in modeling. |
| off the cliffs for hours. | | | | |