Originally Posted by gow589

When I started flying in the mid 80's, people would spend all winter building a plane. When spring came, everyone couldn't wait ti see what people built. People with a lot of sweat equity invested were nervous to see if their creation would get up and down in one piece. We all had skin in the game. Airplanes generally flew like airplanes with some exception. I come back after a bit of a hiatus. I head down to the field to see some old faces and new faces. Airplanes are 95% electric ARF's.

Some of the airplanes are nice aerobatic types with stability systems in the radios and fancy options. It wasn't the same but I could not put my finger on it right away. Besides no sweat equity and no pride of the plane, I realized, these planes are not flying like planes. They can do some neat tricks but the wing loading is so light, so over powered, they seemed more like toys or video games than airplanes.

And yes, people spend more time on their phone these days than building anything. Even the hobby shop isn't selling plastic model kits any more. High tech has taken the craft out of things. Kids are not building things with their hands (few exceptions). Look at ceramic shops! When I was a kid there was one in every neighborhood; now hard to find at all. Not that I do ceramics but it is a labor hand on craft hobby. It is rare now.

It does not deter me though. I remember watching an old DR at the field. He would build a plane then come out in the evenings when no one around. He had a skip in his step. He would do low passes as the sun would set and there was no where else he would rather be. They were not the best planes, not the prettiest planes but they were his and he made them. He didn't care who saw him, he just wanted to do low altitude flybys at sunset! Many of my planes used to be too difficult, too complicated but now, I aspire to be that person. He always got mad at me when I introduced him as my pediatrician (which he was 50 years ago).

Low altitude fly bys at sunset with something I created!