I thought to myself, “Electric start engine?” He pulled up to an almost vertical flight then leveled off briefly before going through an amazing series of aerobatic maneuvers. Then I noticed something else. His plane was incredibly quiet. That was quite a muffler on that plane, I thought. Upon landing, I finally realized he was flying with an electric motor. Now I know electric powered planes have been around for years but they didn't have much power and their flights were limited to 5 or 10 minutes before you had to recharge the batteries for several hours.

     But times have changed. Advances in technology of “outrunner” electric motors and lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries have enabled flights of up to half an hour with less than two hours of battery charging time. Additionally, the large selection of “almost ready to fly” (ARF) planes available at most hobby stores and on the Internet make flying even more enjoyable. No more painstaking hours of assembly. And don't let those styrofoam (foamies) planes fool you. They can take a quite a beating and still fly. A little tape or foam glue and you're back in the air. You'll see many patched planes at any R/C field.
So I had no more excuses for not flying. I started by reading a few forums on the Internet for beginning flyers. The debate was split two ways. One - go for it alone. Buy a plane, keep practicing till you don't crash anymore. (A very discouraging way to learn.) There is no substitute for experience. You didn't need to know much outside of what they told you. Or, two - Join an R/C club. You'll learn more, faster that way. I chose option number two. I headed to the hobby store, bought a beginning outfit most commonly flown by club members and took it to the airfield. There I found a new group of friends ready to help me get airborne. I let experienced flyers fly my plane on its maiden flight to make sure I assembled it properly. Then, after some initial training I was actually flying my own plane. Sure I've had my crashes and those trees out there have caught me a few times, but the damage has been minimal and after some minor repairs I'm in the air again. It's been a year, as I write this, that I began flying. I haven't been able to devote as much time as I'd like to flying. And I still have my one plane and haven't done any fancy aerobatics outside a few loops but I am now able to land where I want (on the runway) and not 300 feet out in the bushes. Next up is a second plane to begin flying those aerobatics everyone else is doing.
I'll see you at the airfield.