“I’m a first responder by trade. I initially started flying RC, because I’ve always been intrigued by aeronautics. I’ve never been able to afford the training required to obtain a pilot certification for manned aircraft, so flying model aircraft caught my fancy quite easily. Aeromodeling was always just a good recreational hobby. However, after being a first responder for 12 years, I experienced the worst call I’ve been on to date. For the next 3 years, I slipped into the deep, dark well which is post-traumatic stress. I won’t go into detail here about the call that broke the dam or the flood of disorder that came rushing in, but it was the worst I’ve ever felt. Building model aircraft gave me something to look forward to, it was a constructive way to escape the memories, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, etc on my bad days. On my good days, it gave me great joy taking these models I had built from scratch or assembled from a box of parts and successfully flying them. I finally realized I needed some help and am doing very well now. I often jokingly say model airplanes saved my life. They didn’t. But, they sure made my life a lot less dark on my darkest days and a lot brighter on my good days. I firmly believe having a constructive outlet saved me from self-destruction. MOST IMPORTANTLY, I’m excited that my son is now extremely interested in building and flying model airplanes, helicopters, and drones. The best thing is whether building or flying we get to do it TOGETHER! He has opportunities to learn about electrical circuits, computer program navigation/operation, aerodynamics, audio/video recording, editing, and transmitting, and many other concepts. It’s fun to watch him conceptualize a project. Whether it “works” or not, it’s still a huge success, because he learns from it either way. I couldn’t imagine moving forward without model aircraft and drones in mine and my son’s lives.”