30,189.51 raised in 2026. We have reached 6% of our goal.
Help us reach this year's goal of $500,000!
I was introduced to aviation as a child in the 1970s, but due to a physical handicap, learning to fly was never an option. Over the years, every time I tried to get into RC aviation, life had other plans. Responsibilities, timing, and circumstances always seemed to get in the way.
Fast forward to 2021—my wife encouraged me to join the local RC club just down the street. That simple push changed everything.
When I lost my wife of almost 40 years, I really didn't have any hobbies. Between taking care of the family, the house, church, work, community involvement, and other family issues, it always felt like there was never enough time.
Then, I noticed a couple of my neighbors who had started flying AeroScouts. I would drive by watching them like a kid. Before long, I was hooked too. As we moved up to slightly bigger planes, we started flying at the local community center, where I ran into an old friend who had also taken up the hobby.
My name is Gilbert Ruiz. I am 58 years old, a father of 3 children, and a grandfather of 3. I live in Miami, Florida. I became involved in the radio control hobby very young in life when my grandfather, who was an auto mechanic, gifted me an RC Chevrolet Camaro Z28. I cannot remember what model platform it was on, but all I knew is that it went fast and was a blast to play with.
As life went on, I had several RC cars, Control Line airplanes, and electric boats. At the age of 19, I joined the US Army Reserve and my RC hobby was temporarily put on hold.
My start in the hobby of RC airplanes began where my hobby of racing motorcycles ended. I was a Land Speed Racer (a "how fast can you go" kinda thing). I held the record for the world's fastest Nitrous Oxide motorcycle from a dead stop to 1 mile for 9 years, and it got boring. So, I got into the unlimited class where there were only 9 riders trying to break 300 mph in just 1 mile from a dead stop.
I started in RC by building a Stearling Model Chri Craft Boat at the age of 12. The radio receiver I used was an ED model using a gas tube XFG-1, later replaced by a RK-61 tube. I built my own transmitter using plans from an article by Greenburg. I still have the transmitter and receiver.
I later became interested in flying models that included stick-built Sterling planes (gas and gliders) using a Futaba six-channel Digital set up.
As with many of us, I would imagine, I began my modeling addiction with rubber band-powered balsa models in the grocery store checkout. My first powered model was a Cox PT-19 Oh 49 Control Line that I received for Christmas when I was 8 years old.
Since that time, I have built hundreds of models, several from scratch. I have enjoyed sport, scale, pattern, IMAC, 3D, combat, pylon, turbines, FPV, and SAM. Essentially, if someone showed up at the field with something new, I was up for giving it a try!
During 1970, my year in Vietnam, I did two things. I flew UH1-H helicopters for the 7/17th Air Cavalry, and I bought my first RC transmitter and signed up with AMA.
In 2003, I met Sam Patriacca, a Silver Star Winner who flew most of the same months in Vietnam that I did. Sam P. revived my interest in RC. Sam Snyder, a scratch builder, allowed us to attend a weekly come see at his shop on Wednesdays. His sharing and instruction aroused my building interest, and over some years, I built by bashing, built kits, and scratch-designed and built RC airplanes.
I have been modeling from the age of 8, and I'm now 67. I've been on 2 FAI teams for F5D racing, Matney Models from 1980 till now. And more to come!
My first flight was in 1962, and the plane was a Cox TD-4 Trainer plane. That was the plane Cox used BEFORE the PT-19. My dad was a WW2 Bomber Pilot; he was an instructor on B-24s out of Smyrna Tenn., and B-29s out of Maxwell in Ala.
As a kid, 12 O'clock high was my favorite TV show and they used B-17s, so I assumed my dad flew them. Reality is, he never even sat in a B-17. So, I wanted to fly a bomber and I built my first B-17 in 1965. It had two 020s and was painted like the Piccadilly Lilly from the show. Only later did I find out my dad never flew one.
Started going to watch my dad fly C/L in the late 40s (still have a P6E Hawk he built in 1942, the year I was born). Started flying C/L at about 8 or 9, just sport flying. Dad flew F/F in a few contests, but I never got into the competition phase of the hobby.
