Michael

Berger

, Auburn

, Pennsylvania

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-13 19:10:50
“Hello my name is Michael Berger. My first experience with this hobby I was 9 years old. I am now 40. It was a line control air plane (Cox 49)with my father. He also got me into model rockets and I built my first rc car. Life as a kid was awesome. My parents later that year became divorced and my life took a very bad turn for the worse. Not to get to in depth but from that year on my mom, sister and I moved a lot. I went to three different schools in one year. From 5th grade on I was never at the same school for more than a year. I never had the same friends very long and was always the new kid. Please don’t judge my mother. Everyone make poor life decisions and she is only human. When I was 7 she remarried to a man that turned into a sever alcoholic and a physical abuser. At one point we were in such a bad way that we lived in a abandoned school bus. My sister had to go live with my grand parents and then it was just me, my mom and my step father. I would try to build what ever I could to fly and play with all things rc. Later my mother divorced that man and we were on our own. She would try to support my hobbies any way she could but money was tight and she was always working. She purchased all my hobby items from yard sales and flea markets. I have since grown up and have been into many different rc hobbies. I have realized that rc hobbies made me happy because it reminded me of better times and kept my mind busy and always exploring. Some people forget the good that this hobby does and how many people don’t have exceptional lives. Something as simple as building an small glider and watching it fly for the first time can spark something in them that can bring them total happiness. I believe that with the new technologies and with amazing sites like YouTube and Flite Test many more children and adults can find happiness. All my planes are scratch built because it reminds me of the times my father and I would spend hours in the garage cutting balsa wood pieces out. Those are my happy memories. Building and flying and crashing are the ways I remember the good times. My mother would not have been able to take the time to take me to a regulated air field nor would she be able to have afforded yearly membership fees. This hobby can be expensive enough. I also would like to say that sometimes we loose sight of all the good that can come from a hobby like this when all you hear is the negative. Please don’t loose sight of What is truly important. Letting our children play and be out and about doing something that makes them happy and helps expand there minds. Also I want to personally thank every one at Flite Test. You are all amazing people. Please don’t stop doing what you do. You are responsible for making thousands of people not only happy but educating them as well. Thank you so very much.”