I remember it like it was yesterday actually. I'll probably never forget it.

It was 2000, in Princeton, British Columbia. After feverishly working on my new Kangaroo (my first venture into turbines) the week before, I made the 12 hour trip to Princeton jets. I arrived around 9pm on the Friday night previous to the rally. I met up with Dean Wichmann who started to mention some of the people who were at the event already. The one phrase that stuck in my mind was "Karl is here with his CAI Raptor, you're going to see some 200+ mph passes tomorrow."

Well, with the anticipation of seeing my first running turbine, as well as the anticipation of flying my first turbine jet, I could barely sleep that night. I was up early the next morning and on my way from the hotel to the field. When I got there, I saw this person who MUST be Karl, he was assembling a silver Raptor. I hurriedly unpacked my Kangaroo and began working on it (I still had to actually hook up the turbine). I kept looking up to see the nose of the Raptor pointing towards me. About 10 minutes later I heard that all so familiar vvvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiip, vvvvvvvvvvvvvvippppp, vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiip WHOOOOOSH PSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH and so on.

At the first sound it made, I looked up to catch the ignition of the propane and see the heat plume rising from the tail. All I could do was stop working and watch. In all my years modeling I had never been so mesmerized by a model. I watched Karl taxi the Raptor out and as cliche' as it sounds, I could envision the Top Gun theme in my head, as soon as he was hammer down on the runway it was Danger Zone! I watched this thing accelerate faster than any model I had ever seen and lift off.... To watch the gear come up, doors close, flaps go up, and that sound..... oh that beautiful wonderful sound and then........ the smell, IT EVEN SMELLS LIKE THE REAL THING!!!!

I was hooked, I watched Karl fly that Raptor hard and fast, like a porn star with a personal vendetta! His landing was perfect, as he taxi'd back to the pits, I realized that I was shaking, the adrenaline was flowing so hard just from watching him fly that I was literally shaking.

Well, it took me the rest of that day to finish up my Kangaroo. Sunday morning was my test flight. Those same feelings were back as I learned how to fire up my RAM750 for the first time, taxi out, and complete my first mission..... er, flight, sorry, caught up in the moment there. I was shaking so bad after that first flight, but I never wanted that feeling to stop.

As I progress in RC jets, that feeling is there after every flight, and that's why I still fly turbine jets after 10 years in it. I had a few runs of really bad luck where everyone thought I was done including myself, but nothing in this hobby has ever given me the rush that I felt that first day, and with every flight I have. If I one day stop flying turbine jets, it's probably only because I have stopped flying altogether.

So thank you to Dean Wichmann for introducing me to turbines (no really Dean, because I couldn't have put all that money into something more useful, like a house! LOL) and thank you to Karl Hibbs for unknowingly getting me completely hooked before I ever flew one of these things!

There's nothing like a turbine man!!!