Mike ShowTime McConville Joins TEAM RCU!
08-04-2004, 03:27 PM
#1
Thread Starter
My Feedback: (24)
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Medina, OH
Posts: 505
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Mike ShowTime McConville Joins TEAM RCU!
Mike ShowTime McConville Joins TEAM RCU!
TEAM RCU surges skyward with another world-class pilot!
McConville is a second generation RC'er that was born into RC. His father Jim, who now lives in Sarasota, FL and still flies, first put a transmitter in my hands when he was age 4. Though he grew up at flying fields, he was a pretty normal kid, played a variety of sports and various activities other than RC. At the age of eleven, something really clicked and that is probably when McConville became a true RC addict.
Growing up in Cincinnati, OH in the 70's, McConville was exposed to some of the biggest names in pattern at the time, such as Dave Brown, Mark Radcliff, Dean Koger and Don Lowe (still Mike's hero's), so his primary interest has always been in aerobatics.
"I remember a very humble beginning at my first contest. Flying the Novice class, I placed 14th out of 16. I beat the guy who crashed and narrowly edged out a guy with a 3-channel flying wing. A much younger Steve Rojecki won the Novice class at that contest," stated McConville. Shortly after hid first contest, an up and coming FAI pilot named Tony Frackowiak moved to Cincinnati. For the next several years, McConville was able to fly with Tony and learned a huge amount about flying, model design and set-up. McConville felt very fortunate to have such world class guys around to learn from. With their help, he was lucky enough to go from a humble start in competition to winning the US Nationals for the first time, in Expert class pattern, in 1981. McConville competed in pattern very heavily until 1996, when he shifted his attention to scale (IMAC) type aerobatics, where most of his activity has been ever since.
In 1984, at the age of 20 McConville was invited to the Tournament of Champions for the first time to fly warm-up flights for the judges. In 1992, he was invited to compete in the TOC for the first time, and has competed in every one since. "Being a TOC competitor is something that I will always treasure and feel extremely privileged and grateful for the opportunity to have been part of such an amazing event," stated McConville.
McConville started designing airplanes while still competing in pattern. His first design, called the Newwave, was flown first few in 1984. The Desire series was first flown in 1990 and was the first of his designs that became commercially available. "I'll never forget the rush I got in the early 90's when I arrived at the NATS and saw several of 'my' Desires on the flight line. Many, designs later, it's still a thrill to go to a field and see guys flying models that I was able to be part of bringing to market, commented McConville."
McConville currently lives in Champaign, IL and works for Horizon Hobby (since 1996). "Its been a lot of fun being part of the growth Horizon has seen and particularly with the Hangar 9 line, which I've been head of for the past several years now" stated McConville.
For more information on Mike McConville, please visit his Team RCU page by clicking the "Community" button on RCUniverse.com or chat with him in the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_321/tt.htm]'Ask- Mike McConville' TEAM RCU forum[/link].
TEAM RCU surges skyward with another world-class pilot!
McConville is a second generation RC'er that was born into RC. His father Jim, who now lives in Sarasota, FL and still flies, first put a transmitter in my hands when he was age 4. Though he grew up at flying fields, he was a pretty normal kid, played a variety of sports and various activities other than RC. At the age of eleven, something really clicked and that is probably when McConville became a true RC addict.
Growing up in Cincinnati, OH in the 70's, McConville was exposed to some of the biggest names in pattern at the time, such as Dave Brown, Mark Radcliff, Dean Koger and Don Lowe (still Mike's hero's), so his primary interest has always been in aerobatics.
"I remember a very humble beginning at my first contest. Flying the Novice class, I placed 14th out of 16. I beat the guy who crashed and narrowly edged out a guy with a 3-channel flying wing. A much younger Steve Rojecki won the Novice class at that contest," stated McConville. Shortly after hid first contest, an up and coming FAI pilot named Tony Frackowiak moved to Cincinnati. For the next several years, McConville was able to fly with Tony and learned a huge amount about flying, model design and set-up. McConville felt very fortunate to have such world class guys around to learn from. With their help, he was lucky enough to go from a humble start in competition to winning the US Nationals for the first time, in Expert class pattern, in 1981. McConville competed in pattern very heavily until 1996, when he shifted his attention to scale (IMAC) type aerobatics, where most of his activity has been ever since.
In 1984, at the age of 20 McConville was invited to the Tournament of Champions for the first time to fly warm-up flights for the judges. In 1992, he was invited to compete in the TOC for the first time, and has competed in every one since. "Being a TOC competitor is something that I will always treasure and feel extremely privileged and grateful for the opportunity to have been part of such an amazing event," stated McConville.
McConville started designing airplanes while still competing in pattern. His first design, called the Newwave, was flown first few in 1984. The Desire series was first flown in 1990 and was the first of his designs that became commercially available. "I'll never forget the rush I got in the early 90's when I arrived at the NATS and saw several of 'my' Desires on the flight line. Many, designs later, it's still a thrill to go to a field and see guys flying models that I was able to be part of bringing to market, commented McConville."
McConville currently lives in Champaign, IL and works for Horizon Hobby (since 1996). "Its been a lot of fun being part of the growth Horizon has seen and particularly with the Hangar 9 line, which I've been head of for the past several years now" stated McConville.
For more information on Mike McConville, please visit his Team RCU page by clicking the "Community" button on RCUniverse.com or chat with him in the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_321/tt.htm]'Ask- Mike McConville' TEAM RCU forum[/link].
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/teamrcu-mike.cfm]Click here to visit Mike's Team RCU Page [/link]
