We all have interesting stories. I first started when I drove past a closed airport in Northern California and saw some small aircraft flying around. I was with my wife (since divorced) on my motorcycle. We turned into the parking lot and watched for a while. I was very impressed with what I saw and thought that I would enjoy flying RC.

Well, about a year later, and after seeing these guys flying around, I decided to go and spend some time with them. I was very impressed with the group of guys, one of them was a commercial pilot, one was the Chief of Police, and another was the Chief of the city Fire Department. Of course, there were others, but, since I was an Active Duty Coast Guardsman, these authority figures made an impression on me in that they were out there flying these RC aircraft.

So, after a few months of watching, I decided to buy what I needed to get started. I bought a Goldberg Skylark 56. (if any of you have read some of my posts, you may note that name).

Anyway, I was in transition in my career, moving from a shore station to a shipboard assignment and a medium endurance Coast Guard Cutter. I built the model and finally went to the field with the finished product. Both the Fire Chief and the Police Chief inspected the plane, had some comments and adjustment changes, and then it was time to fly.

We flew that plane for several days. At that time, there were no buddy boxes. The instructor would take the plane off, climb to altitude.. three mistakes high, and hand the transmitter to me. We flew that thing for, what seemed hours.. but it was only minutes.

The instructor had some recommendations for me to make some minor mechanical adjustments to the elevator setting, so I made the adjustment and, the next week, I was back at the field with my Skylark 56.

He put the plane in the air and gave me the transmitter. After about three or four minutes, I was having trouble handling the plane in turns, so I gave the transmitter back to the insructor. He tried to fly the plane, but was also having problems. So, he opted to land. But, on the approach, he could not slow it down enough and went around a couple of times, each time, slowing it down more and more. Finally, when we thought it was ready to land, it stalled and hit the pavement.

As it turned out, I failed to secure the clevis with the tubing that was there for that purpose, and obviously did not secure the elevator because during the flight, we lost elevator control, and that caused the crash. Remember, in 1977, the radio's were not what we have today. Were flying over pavement so when it crashed, the plane was pretty much totally destroyed.

Now, I was assigned to the ship and our patrol schedule was brutal, so I never had an opportunity to fix the plane. Then, I was transfered to New York City and that was that. I sold everything because, at the time, there were no clubs in NYC and that ended my aspirations for flying RC until I finally retired from the Coast Guard in 1997 when I got back into the hobby.

We all have stories. Here is a great opportunity to share them with us.

Thanks for "listening".

CGRetired.