Well I started flying in 1990 at Osan AB, Korea (I was active duty USAF until 2006). The club (if you can call it that) actually flew off an active taxiway by the A-10 hangers. Several tours later I bought more planes and flew a LOT. I flew 5 times a week from 1990 until about 2000. For some reason and not really sure why I got out of the hobby with family commitments and sold off everything I had . Now I am at the point where I am beginning the buildup back into the hobby. A couple years ago I got myself a .60 size Extra to build and have finally started on it. Would have started earlier but with a basement to finish on my own and 2 kids in high school sports time was just not there. Well I have my building table back in action and things are progressing nicely. I picked up a new Spektrum DX7 for $150 from a friend of my neighbor a couple months ago. I have everything I need to get 2 planes in the air (Extra and Su-DoKhoi) within the next 2 weeks so I can get out and shake off the rust. These 2 planes will get me started and more will arise from there.

You are right in that I can get into jets fairly inexpensively if I try. A YA A-4 or F-16 with a Dynamax XPS in it would turn and burn with the big dogs on 15S.