Michael

Hetrick

, South Bend

, Indiana

, United States

Posted on
2020-02-15 22:24:20
“I grew up around my father and grandfather flying home made nitro powered R/C airplanes. I started seriously flying around 1980. I got out of the hobby in the early 1990s after having children. My father and grandfather taught me about aerodynamics, observation, testing, problem solving, attention to detail, blueprint reading, and many other skills that helped me throughout my life. I got back into the hobby in 2014 on the electric side. I fly home made foam board airplanes, balsa airplanes, and small quads interest me now. My daughters don’t fly yet. My youngest daughter age 28, likes to fly my simulator. My grandchildren are interested in seeing airplanes fly. My hope is that one day my grandchildren and maybe even my daughters or their spouses will get interested in the hobby. I enjoy scratch building and designing my own aircraft and sharing the plans for them after I finalize them. I fear that having to purchase remote ID devices and or installing them on my small aircraft could become undo able. Some of my aircraft can’t spare the extra weight or the room to add them. I live on a fixed income and I currently have over a dozen aircraft and after this winter I should have 20 aircraft ready to fly in the spring. I attend Flite Fest in Ohio in the summer, it would be disappointing to see that get shut down because the hobby would become unaffordable to many families. Hundreds of aircraft are built and flown there every year. So I am not sure how the rule about every aircraft needing it’s own unique electronic ID system would impact that.”