So, some of you know me. Major RC addict and married to a wonderful woman who went from hating the hobby to politely asking fro the first floor of our house back every once in a while when we have guests. Well early this week she texted me asked if I could take Friday off to use my Yuneec Q500 to capture an event where she works. Jokingly I told her to take it and do it herself. That lead to a conversation followed by a trip to the local park. I did a set up and break down to show her what to do. Then she did a set up and did her first flight followed by a full break down and set up and flight. Friday she successfully flew two batteries and captures some great footage of the event safely. She even had a few people act as flight line security because I told her people will come too close not thinking about the danger. Sure enough they tried and her assistants kept them back. So my wife can fly a Q500 unassisted. I never thought I'd see the day.

Also last week, a guy at work who listens a group of us us talk about flying decided to try it without asking anyone's opinion on how to start. Sure enough, we heard it ended up in a tree. So I approached him and asked him the make and model. He had no clue. After trying to get more info from him for the better part of a day, he finnally gave up that he got it from Best Buy online and it cost $2800. Yep, be bought a DJI Inspire for his first drone and admitted to not reading the manual at all. I flew one once and know that you really need to read the manual and learn what the switched do. I am surprised he even armed it. I guess what my friend Jay says about he Inspire is true. Carl would of been better off giving Jay $2000 and letting him kick Carl in the shin. I always thought he was joking.

My LHS has only been around 5 years. I've probably been going there 3 and a half. I didn't know they were there until my son won a gift certificate from them. It was only for $25. The manager at the time was nice and gave my son a $50 Syma heli. I appreciated that and ended up buying a used mCX2 that I can get new today for the same price. But that is where it started.

I hated their web site back then. I begged them to let me do it. One day they agreed, but I would have to get paid in store credit. So I completely revamped their site. And then I started doing their fliers. Then I took over the social media, producing video reviews, and whatever else they asked. They treated me well, so I put a lot of time and effort into everything. Because of that I've been able to own a large number of planes, helis, boats, cars and trucks.

I am upset that they are closing, but not mad. I know when they moved to a much larger location that the rent went way up. My friend Bob S. predicted they would close then. He has seen a few LHSs open, try and go big, and then close. The rent was only part of the issue. A series of events happened that are really no ones fault, but the decision to close was sudden.

I will miss the LHS because I made a lot of friends there and we would hang out there for hours and just learn from each other. I enjoyed helping new hobbyists out. My biggest pet peeve was people who would come in, walk around and while leaving very loudly proclaim that the prices...Continue Reading