A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
After DiVoran and I moved to Florida and I got settled into my new job with North American Aviation, working on the Apollo Manned Space Program, I took lessons in a real airplane, working toward receiving my private pilot’s license. I got as far as soloing twice, but the main problem with that plan was that with a full-time job that involved a hectic work schedule, a new family, and little money to spare, I never was able to find the time or the money to obtain the number of flight hours needed to complete that private pilot’s license. What a Bummer that was!
Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/cessna+150
It wasn’t until after my interest in model airplanes re-surfaced in the early 1990s that I finally discovered Radio Controlled (R/C) Model Airplanes. A good friend at work had also been a model airplane enthusiast in his youth and talked me into trying R/C model airplanes. I started out by buying used planes and equipment to see if I really wanted to spend that kind of time and money on the hobby. It didn’t take long for me to realize my true love of flying model airplanes was back: and especially when I could fly them around the sky like a real airplane instead of on wires around in circles.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
I was surprised by the number and variety of used R/C airplanes and equipment that were available, just from many of my fellow workers here at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). I was able to buy a variety of broken airplanes, ready to fly airplanes, and brand-new airplanes still in the box. The stories that came with these airplanes could pretty much be expected: “I broke the plane on the first flight and didn’t want to try again,” or “The airplane looked so great when I finished it, I was afraid to fly it.” or “I just never got around to putting the airplane together.”
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
My first flight instructor was a member of the Titusville Model Airplane Club that I had joined, and he was great. He taught me how to go easy on the controls and kept me from crashing my basic trainer airplane on every flight. Landing was the hardest part of flying for me, and he would tell me, “Easy on the controls now – cut the power and just let the airplane land itself.” That was easier said than done. However, with lots of practice, and with his help, it all got easier. Once I was able to master the basics of R/C flying, I began to expand my stable of R/C airplanes to include sport and scale model airplanes.
=Photo Credit: Bill Lites
One of the used airplanes I bought was a Neptune Seaplane. Our model airplane club grass flying field was located adjacent to a small lake and many of the club members flew their models from that lake. Not me! I was afraid I would crash during takeoff or landing and ruin my engine and electrical equipment. Besides, with the engine on my seaplane mounted above the wing, I could takeoff and land easily on the grass without fear of breaking the propeller or getting the airplane and equipment wet.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
One of the most challenging used R/C model airplanes I purchased was a Tower Hobbies TwinStar. This twin-engine, low-wing R/C model looked a lot like a Piper Seneca and flew really well as long as you could keep both engines running and synchronized. If one of the engines quit, you had to kill the power on the other engine and hope you could get the airplane on the ground as soon as possible without crashing it. Now-a-days, all of that is handled electronically by the new radio systems.
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is: John 10:10
Old Things R New 