(not necessarily in this order)

1. Goldberg J3 Cub - Kit - Glow - My first plane - Been hanging collecting dust for many many years now.
2. Some ARF trainer - I can't remember which one it was. Superstar? - Glow - Crashed into tree, RIP.
3. Avistar trainer - ARF - Glow - Lost orientation, RIP.
4. Fun Tiger Extra profile plane - ARF - Glow - Flew the heck out of this until it was done with, RIP.
5. Sig Four Star 40 - Kit - Glow - Bad Rx battery, RIP.
6. Kyosho Cap 21 - ARF - Glow - Bad Rx battery, RIP.
7. Top Flite P40 Warhawk - 60 size - Kit - Glow - Bad Rx battery, RIP.
8. Hirobo Shuttle Z .30 size Heli - Glow - Sold to pay for some boat repairs.
9. Top Flite F4U Corsair - 60 size - Kit - Electric conversion - Active
10. Great Planes Super Sportster EP - ARF - Electric - Ripped the wings off during high G manuever, RIP.
11. Cessna 337 Skymaster - ARF - Electric - Someone switched onto my Tx channel, RIP.
12. Low wing balsa sport plane, forgotten name - Electric - Bad LiPo caused motor to cut out on takeoff climbout, RIP
13. Vimar Twin Otter - ARF - Electric - Midair, RIP.
14. Vimar Twin Otter - ARF - Electric - (Replacement of above) - Active.
15. Phil Kraft Quic Fly - Kit - Electric conversion - Under construction.
16. HobbyKing HK450- Kit - Electric Heli - Active
17. E-Flite P-38 Lightning - ARF - Electric - Active
18. Exi-500 Carbon Edition - Kit - Electric Heli - Active
19. Great Planes Edge 540T 49.5" - ARF - Electric - Active
20. Helimax 1SQ Quadcopter - RTF - Electric - Active

Transmitter history
1. JR Maxx 6, Ch 25 - Sold
2. JR Maxx 6, Ch 35 - Sold
3. JR XP662, Ch 58 - For sale, make offer. I have 2 or 3 Rx's.
4. Futaba 7C, 2.4 GHz - I love this thing.

Blue Max RC Flying Club - Deer Grove Forest Preserve, IL - 1998'ish

I was teaching a buddy to fly this plane on the buddy box. He had control of the plane and was doing great. Another friend arrived at the field and honked his horn when he pulled up to the parking lot. I turned my head to look, and then heard my other friend say he was losing control of the plane. I quickly turned my eyes back to the plane, but I had lost orientation and didn't have enough altitude to figure out which way the plane was flying. That was the end of that and it was my first (and last) crash due to loss of orientation.

I got this ARF right after I crashed my Avistar trainer. This was back when I was in high school. I flew it for a long time and had banged it up and repaired it plenty of times. I had left to Atlanta for college, and around my sophomore year there, I drove with a friend from ATL to Northern Illinois just to pick up this plane and bring it back to ATL. We drove north thru the night, arrived early in the morning, got some sleep, hung out with old friends and drove back to ATL that night with the plane and all my RC stuff. I flew this plane many more times in ATL. I can't remember what ever happened to the plane, but by the time I put it in the trash, it had more stickers on it (for patch work) than monokote covering.

My friend gave me this kit for my 13th birthday! I never got around to building this until I was in college. I covered it in dark blue and flew it a few times before it crashed. Keep reading to find out why it crashed...

GMA club, GA - 1/27/2002

My dad's friend gave me this brand new ARF because he had it sitting around for years and was never going to build it. I flew it a few times before it crashed just like Four Star did. It crashed way out in the forest and I thought it would never be found. It was getting dark. My friend and I head out into the woods in the direction we thought it would be. We made our way thru the thick trees and bushes, across streams, up and down hills, and somehow by pure dumb luck we stumbled right upon it! I took a picture of the scene we came across. I didn't know how we ever found our way out of there, but we did and the other guys at the field joined in on the goodbye ceremony shown in the pic.

Behind Skydive Atlanta - 2/2/2002

I started building this one in my dorm room during sophomore year of college. The semester ended before I finished building, so I had to move it to my next dorm room where I completed the kit. I had panel lines, camo paint, split flaps and all the fun stuff. I had 3 successful flights the first day I flew this plane. On the 4th flight, I initiated a loop and the plane just stopped responding. It spiraled nose-first straight into the ground. 6 months of building gave me 3.5 flights. It's never fun crashing a kit you put all your time into. After crashing my Four Star, Cap 21 and P40 within weeks of each other, I realized it was probably because I was using the same equipment I had bought when I was 13. The RX battery wasn't holding it's charge and I learned it the hard way. All three of the planes just stopped responding in the air and all went down because I didn't keep my equipment up to date. This was the last time I used this equipment. I got rid of my JR Maxx 6 radio and receivers and batteries.

So after all those crashes related to old equipment, I took a break from RC for about 2 years while I finished up with college. Besides, I spent all my money on 76 skydives during that time and couldn't afford to get back into RC

Itching to get back into RC, I spent my graduation money on some brand new everything. I got the Corsair, my first computer radio (JR XP662), new RX, servos, batteries, glow engine, etc., etc. See my active Corsair blog for all the fun photos here.

I spent a few months building this kit and looking for a job at the same time. I finally finished the kit complete and even had some run time on the motor. All I had to do was get to the field and fly this plane. It was that ready to fly. However, I ended up going to California the very next day after running the motor to look for jobs, and I never returned home. It took 3 years for me to finally get the plane shipped from ATL to CA. When it arrived, I took out the glow engine and converted the plane to electric since the field I fly at is electric only. I'm still flying this plane today and it's by far my favorite one. I've even upgraded it further to the 2.4 GHz system now.