**CAUTION : LESS EXPERIENCED BUILDER ABOUT TO GO ON A LONG RANT - VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK**

Ok...I admit...I'm a good bit "newer' to this hobby than many of you. And I certainly don't mean to offend anyone here...but it seems that many of the builders I encounter are builders because "back in my day, that was the only way you got an airplane. there weren't any ARFs!" Hey, kudos to you and all. And, WITHOUT A DOUBT, some of you are amongst the finest craftsmen I've ever encountered.

But I wonder if, perhaps, the outlook might be a bit different if you learned to build by CHOICE rather than necessity. Here's why:

Despite my mere ~4 years in this hobby, I'm a builder myself. By no means as accomplished as many in this thread (nor, i suspect, will I EVER be), but I CAN point to my avatar with more than a little pride and say "That's a scratch built 33% Pitts Bulldog". And ya know what? For me, that is the joy of building. It's mine. I know every stick of wood in it, I know every bit of engineering and finish (the good AND the bad), and when it's flying around, it is my creation.

That being said, however...I'm an aviation nut first. I don't care if it's a rocket, a helicopter, an airplane, an ornithopter, a bumblebee, or a freakishly overpowered playhouse on Master Blasters...if it flies, it's cool. If someone has fun flying it, it's doubly cool.

For that reason, despite being "a builder", I'm not only "ok" with the market dominance of ARFs, I rather encourage it.

Do you learn something different, or perhaps think differently about an ARF? Absolutely. Are you inherently less respectful of your airplane, or less worthy of it, simply because it's an ARF? Absolutely not.

Sure...we'll find folks who are disrespectful of their equipment, or that of others. And, I grant, they're more likely to be flying an ARF, because that sort of person doesn't usually have the patience to build. And I suppose it's even fair to say that ARFs have 'let that guy into the hobby" where, without them, he'd have never seen our field.

But ya know? For every one of him, there's at LEAST one guy who flies ARFs rather than builds simply because HE'D RATHER SPEND HIS TIME FLYING. What about that guy? He's happily married, has a couple of kids, and works his *** off at 2 jobs to support them. He thinks airplanes are cool, but his 3 br apartment simply doesn't have the SPACE to build, and frankly, he's dog tired when he gets home. He just wants to go fly for an hour or so and relax from the day. What does THAT guy bring to the field?

He's respectful. He is the prototypical "good, hardworking, honest person"
His airplanes are well assembled and maintained. He's learned a bit of respect for himself and his belongings over the years.
He flies safely and well - See that whole respect thing.
He brings a MUCH wider variety of airplanes to the field MUCH more quickly than we builders could. In the year it takes us to finish 2, he could purchase 4-5. He exposes more people to more types of aircraft quicker.
He's FLYING, and having FUN doing it.
Heck...he quite possibly brings those 2 kids with him. Sure, they're something of a hand-full at times...but they are children learning to enjoy aviation....and that can not possibly be a bad thing.

Don't get me wrong...I love building. I'm no master craftsman, but I'm getting better at it every time I build (in large part thanks to some of the kind folks around here), and enjoying the learning process. And, certainly, I take some very personal joys away from each airplane I complete. I have emotional ties to "my" aircraft (one in particular) I could never form with an ARF. So, by no means am I suggesting that ARFs are the be all and end all of this hobby.

But, for all the "bad" they may expose, or have brought to our hobby, they HAVE brought GOOD people into it that simply couldn't or wouldn't be flying otherwise. They are, to date, THE most effective way to spread a love of aviation to "Joe Average" and his kids.

Quite simply...while we, as builders, may represent the "origins" of our hobby, ARFs are keeping it alive and spreading it. And I, for one, am thankful for that.