“Flying has paved the way of most of my adult life. I grew up in rural south Alabama and became infatuated with Army helicopters and local crop dusters that would fly over our family property. This excitement of flight later guided me to model building, control line planes, free flight models, and remote controlled model airplanes. I was blessed to have a backyard large enough to safely fly and experiment with my models. I flew and built into fuel airplanes until I started college. My enthusiasm for aviation and the magic of flight was a major factor for me making a decision to follow my passion in the United States Air Force. To this day I still get giddy at the sight of remote control model airplanes and still love to fly full size and my collection of rc planes. Think of children with no imagination – no way to dream about flight and flying. What will the aviation future be like? I don’t know, but I do know many of the modern aeronautical success from engineering would not be possible without kids building and flying model airplanes and bringing their passion to professional careers. Don’t punish common sense.”