I guess I'll just chime in on this. Overall, I think ARFs do more good than harm overall. I'm almost 35 and started 3 years ago. My dad was a pilot (and firefighter) and I solo'd at 17. I ended up focusing on becoming a firefighter and put flying to the side. After becoming a firefighter and starting a family, being a pilot as a second profession didn't appeal to me. Anyway, that's all beside the point. As a young boy (8-10) my dad had a few acquaintances that built and flew RC planes. When I was young we had gone to one of their homes and he had his garage filled with planes and some that were under construction, and we also went out to a field when they were flying. I always wanted to get into it, but my dad didn't have enough interest and we did other stuff like raced motocross.

About 8 years ago, my sisters and I went in and bought him a Thunder Tiger RTF trainer. He never flew it. So, when I was cleaning out my moms garage (my parents had separated) I ran across the box. I figured since he hadn't even opened the box, I was going to be the one to have to get this thing in the air. So it started from there. I did a little research, found a local club and those guys were very helpful and got me flying. I immediately ordered Realflight and did a lot of flying before doing anymore real life flying so that I had the best possible chance of successfully becoming a competent RC pilot. After that, I was hooked.

I've yet to do a kit build, but would like to (and most likely will). I'm not going to say I DON'T have the time to build a plane because I do. But, I don't have enough free time that I would like to dedicate to that right now (like someone said, I don't have the "incentive" or strong drive). What I personally love about the hobby is the flying. Some guys like building more than flying, and some like flying more than building. I'm obviously the latter.

I can confidently say that the availability of affordable ARFs is the only reason I am apart of this great hobby. Having all the busy things in life like others have, I probably wouldn't have tried my hand at building a kit and then learning to fly. I think many people who started out doing kits or scratch builds were introduced by their father or someone close to them who helped them along the way. It seems pretty intimidating for someone with no experience and nobody to help them along to jump into something like that.

For the guys that love to build, I really can appreciate it. They build some amazing stuff. Real craftsmen. Being pretty handy myself, I can understand what goes into their creations. I've been into cars in the past and done all of my own work, as well as doing a lot of home gunsmith projects. There are a few guys in my club who love to build as well as assemble ARFs, and they even do some for their buddies because they like it so much. Those types of guys go to the field and may fly, or may not. Mostly, they like to hang out and socialize, and that's perfectly cool. If I were to look down on them because they don't fly, or don't fly well would be just like someone looking down on me for not building what I'm flying. They are just getting out of the house and having fun...

I'm sure the availability and ease of assembly of ARFs has briefly brought a good number of goobers into the hobby who may have a negative impact on the sport by flying dangerously and having a generally poor demeanor. On the other hand, I think this is outweighed by the people that have been able to get into a hobby that they grow to love and continue to do it for a long time.

As for saying that guys who buy ARFs dont care about their equipment or planes is a little far stretching. I don't have much money to spend on hobbies, so when I can make it work to get a new plane, I do take very good care of them. It's not a matter of pride for what I've created (because I didn't create it), it's simply pride of ownership that I have for my planes, just like I have for anything that I have spent my hard earned money on. Again, some guys like to take pride in something they have built, and some take pride of the flying skills they have worked very hard to build. And some have both.

Anyway, I'd say that as long as ARFs are making it easier for people to get into our hobby, the better. Our rights to our hobby are under attack all the time. So more voices (and money going into the AMA, who is our main voice as well as the businesses that provide the materials and equipment) we have, the better our chances to sustain our hobby. Luckily, my club has something like 40 members (not all fly much, but still give their money) and we seem to grow by 2-4 members a year. 95% of the planes at my club are ARFs of some kind, and we are all having lots of fun, and I think that should be the main focus. There are also 3 other clubs near by.

So, I love the flying and I'm glad that even though some other guys prefer the building, I'm glad they don't look down on me because I like to fly more than I build. That wouldn't be a very welcoming feeling, and may take the enjoyment out of it for some guys if that were the case.

Jeremy