“My cousin first introduced to remote control airplanes when I was a freshman in high school. He took me out to a field on their farm and buddy boxed me on his one of his old trainers. I had a blast and immediately wanted to get into the hobby. Later that year I was able to get my own airplane and learned how to fly it at a local AMA field. Flying model airplanes made me realize how much I loved aviation and inspired me to pursue a career in it. I got my degree in Aerospace Engineering and I’ve been working as an Engineer in commercial aviation for almost 10 years now, currently for a major US airline. I feel that I’ve been extremely lucky to have found the career path that I did, and I firmly believe model aviation had a big role in that. I also believe that if the Remote ID rules had been in place when I was in High School, that I probably wouldn’t have gotten into the hobby. All the rules and regulations would have been too intimidating. Its been 18 years since I started flying and I love it just as much now as I did then. It is the perfect hobby for someone who likes engineering, I can design and build my own planes and experiment with new ideas. When I start to think that the airliners at work are nothing but a mountain of paperwork, the hobby has always been a great way to just enjoy flying and relax.”