Advancement is perception.

We flew 6-8 channel radios then, most fly the same now. Not much progress.

We drove cars with four wheels then, four now. Gee, much progress there either. If you go back a few more years you can say that then the drive wheels were on the back and now they are on the front. Big deal, not much progress.

My 1977 personal computer, that I had to build myself, did word processing. My current PC was an RTF (that is progress) also does word processing. Not much progress.



Reading through the thread, the two features (dreams) not realized are plane finders and autorecovery. Both are available now, and not very expensive. Also not in great demand. The plane finder was certainly technically feasible then (think Sonalert, reed relay and spare radio channel), but not necessarily implemented. Apparently not enough planes are lost to drive demand. Autorecover is available from several vendors. Some don't work well (think Hobbyzone Cub) but are very cheap. Some work very well, and aren't horribly expensive (think Ruby or Eagle Tree). Apparently most modelers don't lose their planes. The ones most likely to have this problem, soaring pilots, generally don't want any extra weight.

Two things are required for an "advancement". One is a creative vision or dream of what could be. The second is a broad market of people who agree that the dream is a wonderful idea.

Proportional control and 2.4 GHz are examples of advancements that had those things. Plane finders and autorecovery don't seem to have the second part.