I’m an aviation geek through and through. Even before I worked on flightlines, I loved aircraft. Boeing 727s, McDonnell Douglass MD-11s, Lockheed C-141 Starlifters…I got to see many planes flying around thanks to being close to both Petersen Air Force Base and the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, and then when I made the move to Washington State as a kid, we’d see all sorts of big military jets flying in and out of McChord AFB, nevermind SeaTac traffic. Aircraft have had the human imagination longer than the actual idea of an aircraft took shape. For thousands of years humans wanted to fly, and now that they can simply by buying a ticket to where they want to go.

Riding on an aircraft is one thing. Owning and flying an aircraft is a completely different animal. The costs involved, even at the most basic level, are monumental and for most people, unachievable. But that’s where remote-controlled vehicles come in…instead of having a million-dollar level vehicle to keep up, maintain and the like, own a scale replica and call it a “hobby”. You might not be flying in the aircraft but you will actually be flying a machine around, so you can cop to having flight skills. You can go into a hobby shop, spend a few bucks and get a flying toy, but there are some people who take their hobby to an extreme. In the world of remote-controlled planes, that means scale replicas that can be as big as a small car, jet engines, afterburners, and in a case that is a first for the author, a functioning carrier system involving an Antonov AN-225 and a Buran shuttle. Now that’s impressive!