reo

My Feedback: (130)

I think time is a big factor, I have a son that is a bit older than Jeremy and was very active in the hobby from the time he was 10 and until he graduated high school. Then came advanced education and the free time ceased to be. He is well established in engineering career(self employed) and he has never returned to the hobby. Just how it is, guys have families and have to make a living.

FalconWings

My Feedback: (57)

no, it won't. ✌

ajcoholic

My Feedback: (10)

Never thought it would happen to me.. I started into model airplanes with FF and CL in the mod to late 70’s, RC in the early 1980’s and was active all through my teens, through my university and college years, after I started working full time in the mid 90’s etc. I devoted a lot of time to the hobby year after year.

Getting married and having a few kids, along with moving and setting up a new business in 2010/11 pretty much stopped me in my tracks. The last 6 or so years I have been working running my business, or working at home being a dad to two boys. Never thought I would see the day I was too tired or didn’t have time to build or fly, but it happened!

My older son turns 7 in April. Just recently I set up a building area in our house, and we have started doing some basic rubber powered stuff. Got him a few RC cars and a boat and I’m trying to lure him to the world of kits, engines etc. Slowly... but hopefully he will get the bug. Son #2 turns 4 this year and I will try with him as well in another year or so.

I took my older son to a fun fly last summer, and we plan to hit a few other events this season.

You have to have hope! Ive gotten other kids into the hobby and I will try for two more.

Andrew Bird

Obviously there are no blanket answers here, much as many will think there are. But times have changed. Oli makes an interesting point here - when I was a kid I got into flying toy planes with my Dad. We did more building than flying and in my teenage years as beer, hormones and girls took over from RC stuff, I still took things apart and used the skills I'd learned with my old man in the course of making my way in the world. As I got older I drifted back in to toy planes and also had made enough money to re train as a pilot which is now what I do for a living. I have a shed which I like locking myself in and building planes and if something breaks or needs sorting around the house or with the cars, I can generally fix it.
I was with my Dad the other day and he said if he gets a puncture in his car in the future he will just call someone up to come out and fix it. I have to admit I was disgusted. It was an indication of a cultural change that has passed me by. A lot of manufacturers now advocate this sort of thing to justify you constantly paying them for service packages etc. We are no longer encouraged to solve problems or fix things and this in turn does have a knock on effect. There are so many other reasons for the decline of the hobby though, I'm just lucky I got involved in it as I go out flying with my mates and get to have great fun. Unfortunately long term prospects for the hobby aren't great be it the instability of suppliers as the market changes or access to flying sites due to redevelopment and complainants.

franklin_m

$150? It's $175 in my area. And that's for a grass field (not exactly smooth), that's 13 miles (about 20 minutes) one way.

I was a member for the first three years I was here. I found I didn't fly that often, the logistics of getting there and back was tough to fit in with a busy family schedule. Even then, there was the waiting while someone hovered their mid wing aerobat over the runway. So I switched to smaller stuff, .25 size electric and helos (450 to 600). I now fly at a park 100 yards from my house or at a school 200 yards away. I can walk there, fly 8 batteries worth, and walk back in less time than it would take to drive to a field and set up. I had a big pile of cash not too long ago, and contemplated buying a jet. Combination of the rough local field (just not that fun to have your jet bouncing it's way to flight) and lack of turbine CDs close - it just wasn't worth the hassle - barrier to entry too high (in this case logistics). So I bought a high end rifle instead.

Part of the problem is the barriers to entry. You hit on a big one. I suspect there's hard core folks out there for whom $175 a year and a drive to a field is worth it. The problem is, there aren't that many hard core people. For those who can take it or leave it, barriers to entry matter - whether it's getting turbine qualified / field quality or just costs.

Lastly, aviation just doesn't hold the allure it once did. My kids (21, 19, and 13) have lived on air bases their entire lives. They've been surrounded with Prowlers, Intruders, Tomcats, Hornets, and a variety of others for their whole lives. And yet they have no interest in flying models.

erbroens

Everything is easier now, from big, RTF easy flying and easy to see jets with low wing loadings to quadcopters that fly by just tapping a point on a screen (and even so, people manage to crash them, LOL) so some of the challenge was lost.

A few rainy weekends ago I scratch built a flite streak with a Mccoy 35 ... guess that was a kind of meditation therapy for me.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

"guess that was a kind of meditation therapy for me."

My feelings exactly, my hobby is my way back to mental sanity, when building and when I'm at the flying field, I'm there to relax, coffee on hand, feet up on a table for a few minutes then assemble and fly hard, some times I listen to classic music to complement the acrobatic maneuvers Yep! Very relaxing.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

A few years ago I discover that I was going in the wrong direction about my hobby, trying to keep up with some of my friends trends instead of doing what I like to do ( building, causal flying, helping new comers ) I was not enjoying the hobby like before so, I made a conscious change, to go back to the time when I had a lot of fun, I did.

Now days I'm not trying to buy the biggest, most high tech jet any more, I'm building my own and I'm enjoying that, the best part is that I get to show off and fly it at my flying field and no one has one like mine ( Im also planning to build a few prop planes from kits )

The way I see it the hobby is not dying, or anything like that, it is changing, I'll give you that, but if you think about it has been changing since it started, look at all the advances in electronics and batteries and so much more that we ( my generation ) has seen and accepted as beneficial to our needs.

I say, take advantage of the changes, keep doing what you enjoy doing, and let new guys with their new ( different ) toys join and have fun too.

FalconWings

My Feedback: (57)

was gonna write something, but meh,pointless.

jws_aces

My Feedback: (33)

Yup it is like everything else. Evolution of the hobby. Just do what you want safely and don't impose on others. I would love to be around say 30 years and see what some of the younger Quad racer college guys think about the hobby then? I guess the will be raising heck about their hobby regulations put out by the FAA and mixing in the airspace or electronic interference with thought controlled personal hover craft that are used by everyone everyday.

It's always changing just like the Climate so enjoy what you like and stop wining. When the fun stops Change

mikes68charger

My Feedback: (34)

You are somewhat correct, I play the PS4 (I play a game called Destiny) been playing it a few nights a week for the last 4 years with my Dad and Uncle who I would only see for Thanksgiving once a year, but now talk/play with a few times a week. It is a big social network, to play this game you have to have a team of 6 people, so it makes you connect online with there's to complete your objectives.

I'm known as the local builder/jet guy, as I resotor jets and build war birds all the time, I have had several people come over to my house to check out my building arrangements, and when they see I got a room in the basement set up just for body work which is were I spend most of my time, and a room designated for painting with full ventilations and vinyl floors, They are scared away to fiberglass an ARF and paint it as they don't have the space in there house to make such a mess or the smell of the paints in there house, and people just don't have the tools like they used to.