Well... I have done a lot of thought on this and the younger generation.. I have a 6 year old boy, when I was that age I was ENGROSSED with flight... then again I was watching the Apollo rockets take off and go to the moon for the first time, that made flight seem dangerous and exotic at the same time, flight was not something that was taken for granted, there were no $100 round trip tickets to Orlando, flight was still something special.

Now I look at my boy, he only knows that there are planes in the sky, and they have always been there, no big deal... There is no fascination with flight, rocket launches well those happen every month (well under normal circumstances) and where are they going well, they are going to circle the earth a few thousand times.

What did I do to get him somewhat interested in RC, I bought a car, he loves that and hopefully it will spark his interest in the planes since I take him to the field with me when I fly, but only time will tell on this one.

But I believe this is the root of the ageing RC community, planes are common place, and there is nothing exotic with them. Of course you will find the kid who is interested in the hobby and even has the parents who have the ability to buy him a plane, but now you have to look at who is going to teach him to fly, a 57.7 year old geezer who thinks this kid is a rich punk. When I got back into this hobby a few years ago *I* found it tough to get in a club, get some training and then show up on the weekends to fly, I would have to venture to guess that a kid would find that in formidable.

What do you need to do to overcome this, get the kids to the field and get them flying, work with the youth organizations, and find clubs who would be WILLING to help them out. The AMA has done their part by offering the $1 junior membership the clubs need to chip in as well by offering a lower membership fee, the planes are expensive enough never mind all the membership / club dues that they would have to pay.

As we all know once you get in this hobby it is totally addictive and there is no getting out once you get bit. I don’t know I may be totally off base here but this is my view of the world from my 50,000 foot vantage point!!!!

Mike