Hi My name is Mike and I'm an RC-aholic. My addiction started in 1988 when I built my first kit, an old Sterling Fledgling kit. Put a K&B .40 on the plane, took it to the field behind my house and decided to just "practice taxiing" until I could find an instructor. After a few trips back and forth on the ground..."let's see, just a little more throttle",,,and boom, it was in the air. Without trying (read: having no idea how I did this) I executed a perfect half loop to bring the plane back so it was pointing at me, then a half roll to bring the wings level. As the plane shot over my head, I had 1/2 second to ask myself "now what are you going to do?". Then a loud "crack" and silence. Moments later, my brother, my friend, and two bystanders (a man and his son) stared in stunned silence as a shower of balsa pieces floated down out of the tree that had consumed my brand new airplane like a frog consumes a bug. After a respectful silence, the three of us burst out laughing. As the laughter subsided and we attempted to breathe again, the man stood next to his son and said "gosh, I feel like I should pay you for the entertainment".

That's when the addiction began. My next thought was "where can I get another plane?" There was a swap meet that weekend and I was not disappointed...a plane followed me home. Shortly thereafter the addiction reached another level as Tower Hobbies delivered a Trainer .40 kit to my door and I completed a room in the basement for my workshop. A Hobbico Diabolo followed shortly which met it's demise on the maiden takeoff because the control surfaces had way too much deflection and it ground looped, transforming itself into a pile of balse shreds. A little voice in my head said "that looks familiar". The addiction ran it's delightful course for a number of years before an intervention occurred and I white knuckled the addiction for 24 years. A trip to the hobby store for pinewood derby parts for my son caused me to see the Real Flight controller on display. The thought "That looks way cooler than the old Dave Brown simulator I had 20+ years ago for my IBM PC AT computer!". I had to try it...and wham! the addiction dug it's claws into me again.

Thankfully, lack of a large supply of ready cash to spend has kept the addiction in check. Long counseling sessions with my wife have helped me understand that a mortgage and college payments for our kids are more important than a new plane for me. Her support and help in building a man cave in the basement for me have helped keep the addiction in check. Building kits instead of buying ARF's has been the best and most fulfilling technique to feed the addiction in a healthy way. Of course, if we are being brutally honest, her demand that she maintains possession of both her credit card and mine has had a larger impact on how much money I can spend on the addiction. We have reached equilibrium regarding finances. If she knew how much time I spend researching for "my next fix" on the buy/sell link of this web site, eBay, Tower, Horizon, etc. she would probably perform another intervention. Until then, I'm content with managing my addiction. Oops, gotta go, the wife just came home.

Peace,
Mike<br type="_moz" />