Biographies

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Alec Pettifer Biography

Man launching a small yellow drone in a grassy field.

Like many of us, I have fantastic memories of building and flying simple balsa airplanes and model rockets with dad as a kid. We’d fly them (or attempt to) in a big field behind grandma’s house as the sun set on long summer evenings. Tall grass, lighting bugs, and the sound of cicadas seem ever-present in those memories. A lot of hope and excitement was invested in those toys, but success was rare and fleeting. I’m not sure what we were doing wrong, but the experience was nonetheless magical.

Dave Harsanyi Biography

I have been in the modeling hobby now for 62 years and an AMA member since 1971. After flying full size aircraft for 35 years, it was only natural to continue with this hobby and aviation interest.

Currently both sons in Texas and grandson in Pennsylvania are both flyer/modelers and are AMA members. So, with this family activity & interest, the modeling tradition will continue in our family.

In what other hobby can you learn about aerodynamics, engine operation, structural building, electronics, & radio frequencies combined??

Garrett Reisman Biography

Person kneeling with a child holding a model airplane on a grassy field.

I'm a former NASA Astronaut who flew on the Space Shuttles Endeavour, Atlantis, and Discovery and spent 95 days aboard the International Space Station. My son, Buster, and I joined the AMA club on Orcas Island, Washington, and have been flying RC airplanes ever since. Buster has really gotten into it and has built two RC airplanes from scratch, one of his own design.

Scotty Smithwick Biography

Not sure why, but my love for flight started pretty much pre-birth!!!! Made paper planes, then the $0.25 balsa gliders, followed by the rubber band airplanes, they cost more :-) Then the Cox .049 Plastic U-Control Christmas presents. A small can of fuel, Battery, glow plug clip ... WOW ... memories there :-)

Christopher Balser Biography

My very first interest in planes was when I was quite young! Maybe 10 years old! I build quite a few of the Rebal plastic models of many different planes. Then I got interested in the “U” control planes, and started to build a few kits! All I can really remember was that they were called Super Stunt. I built two of them! One quite small, and the other was much larger. This was back in the late 1950s. I did not have any adult supervision, but I tried to fly them, and they both perished on their maiden flights! That discouraged me, and I gave up trying to fly those planes!

Joe Friend Biography

Man arranging model airplanes in a hangar with vintage aircraft displays.

My story begins in 1944. I was 5 years old living with my mother, father, brother, grandparents, aunt, and uncle in a 3-story house in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. I had two uncles in the military, one a Marine in the Pacific and one an Army P-40 mechanic in Hawaii. My teenage uncle at home was an avid artist and craftsman who built model airplanes, built a HO train layout, and drew pictures of P-40s. He was my inspiration.

David Shallenberg Biography

Man with red cap and blue jacket standing outdoors with a large model biplane.

I started flying 1/2A Control Line planes with my dad at about age 10. I built a Controlair MAN 234 proportional radio from a kit when I was a sophomore in high school. My RC aspirations were back-burnered until 1981, when I joined AMA and the Benton County Flying Tigers and learned to fly.

Barry Ams Biography

I believe I started with Control Line in about 1961 as a high school kid. There have been some times out for college and the army. Also, about a decade away from the sport when I was flying ultra lights.  In about 1975, I taught myself to fly RC with an Ace Hi powered glider with a cox engine. Now I only fly electric and mostly FPV. Despite the occasional hiatus from the sport, I have maintained my membership in AMA nonstop since the early sixties.

Robert McGregor Biography

A person kneeling behind a large model airplane on a sunny airstrip.

My participation in RC model aviation began in 1986. My youngest son was 12 years old at the time and expressed an interest in the hobby. We joined the Salinas Area Modelers (AMA Club #1554) and have been members for 39 years. I had been introduced to the hobby by a friend, but really never got involved until my son expressed interest.

John Hackert Biography

I was introduced to RC modeling while attending Santa Barbara, California, High School in the early 1960s. A classmate and fellow electronics shop student invited me to attend a rudder-only pulse soaring event held at the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Transistors were just becoming employed in RC hobby electronics, and the Controlaire V all-transistor receiver was the hot item.  Galloping Ghost was not quite there yet for the average hobbyist, so everyone flew pulse with escapements and some pulse proportional with magnetic actuators.

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