Get to know your Flying Giants family........

[appydriver]

My name Shane Eddy, I'm 43 years old from Miami, Missouri. My wife is named Christi, we have two children and we will be married for 18 years on the 17th of August. From my sig you can see I am a farmer and also a taxidermist and horse lover. I have been a plane nut for as long as I can remember. My granddad was into models in the 1950's from free flight,control line and the very beginnings of R/C. Some of the old transmitters and gear they flew with was amazing. Just to get some kind of flight was a extreme big deal. He pasted in 1986. He would not believe the stuff we are doing now! I started flying at about 12 with a Cox.049 control line plane I built from a kit. Started R/C with a Fox .29 powered Trainer,and a Heathkit radio a great friend gave me. I started flying giant gassers in about 1997. I have a son named Carson who is turning 5 on the 8th of July. He loves to help with the planes at the field. His favorite thing is helping put the planes together and pump in the gas and smoke oil. He loves seeing the smoke."Turn the smoke on dad" I hear that a lot. He also loves the simulator and is doing quite well. I hope to get him on a trainer in a year or so. I have a little girl Mackenzie who is 3 and is a budding dancer. We went to her third dance competition this past weekend, she likes the planes too though. This is a great site with a bunch of great people to share ideas and stories. Awesome thread Mike.

[mike bodiford]

My name is Michael C. Bodiford. I live Near Charleston South Carolina. I got a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics in 1972 I did a little high school math teaching in the early 70s, but I am now a General Contractor in the state of South Carolina.
I started flying RC in 1970 and then I got my private pilot licence in 1991 and flew full scale a while. I got back to RC in 1997 and have been flying gaint scale since then. I love any thing that flys. I spend a lot of time doing researh on new flying technology. I also like to calculate what it would take to fly in outer space, and believe that we do not have any way to travel to the stars with the current knowledge that we now have. The distance that one would need to travel is just to great. If any of you guys think that aliens our visiting us. Think again. Well that is a discussion for later. If you want to see my aircraft pics and videos go to www.carolinaskydancers.com

[Mike Busutil]

see, I feel closer to everyone already.....

[DannyFlyer]

Mike this was a great idea

Danny

[Mike Busutil]

Thanks Danny! and thanks for sharing.

[MODE 1]

Names Pete Marshall. I'm 36 and work as an oil rig consultant overseas most of the time. Started off as a marine engineer but found the money and job wasn't as lucrative. When I am home I live in Michigan. Been flying for 17 years and design most of my models now instead of buying since I like the challenge and personal goals of creating something from scratch which is what this hobby is all about.
Hate the nick I have which was a mistake and caused by shear frustration after 9 attempts when the server here in Libya kept crashing during the registration phase.
Like to help people in the hobby when I can. Consider myself very sincere if not a little direct at times.

[mikeyj86]

My names Mike "Judge" Justice, originally from Cincinnati, but am currently stationed in Newburgh New York working as a KC-130 airframe mech for the Marine Corps. Started flying models back in '05 for a season then enlisted and had to take a break till this year. I'm engaged to the girl of my dreams! And will be getting married this Christmas. And she promises to buy me all the planes I want, lol. She even said for me to pick one out for my wedding present, she's the best! Hope to be able to get out to some fly ins this year and meet a bunch of you guys.

[50%plane]

My name is Chris Todd. I'm 22 years old, and I've been flying since I was 10 or 11, which is probably why I don't have a girlfriend/wife. I'm in the Air Force, stationed in North Carolina, and currently deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. I normally work on F-15E Strike Eagles, but since I've been here, I've had the opportunities to work on several aircraft such as the A-10 and Chinook. My interest lie in most aspects of RC, but my main goal is having fun. My main interest are classic pattern and giant scale aerobatics. When I'm not working, I'm going to college. I hope to have my associates degree by the end of the year and start working toward my batchelors degree in engineering.

[GKO1]

My name is Gary Owens, I'm 46 years old and live in Crosby Texas about 30 miles north east of Houston. Coming up on 28 years of marriage in September. We have 2 boys 23 and 25 and will be a grandfather in a few weeks, our first. I've been in RC since the early 70's, I got started with cars, and moved to boats then planes and helicopters. I still race boats but love my planes and helicopters. Mostly large scale gas. Just in the last 2 weeks I have taken on my first kit build, a Dalton Extra 300 MEL edition. I am wanting to get better at precision flight and compete in IMAC. I like 3D too but not counting on it too much however, it just seems with each passing year my reflexes keep getting slower. I'm enjoying the building more than I thought I would. I can see myself sticking with this for the long term.

[A-Track]

My name is Allan Stenroos and i'm from Minnesota near the Minneapolis / St Paul area. I started flying back in like 1990. Flew mainly sport stuff and combat most of that time and then got into the gas stuff a few years ago. Flew in my first IMAC event this summer and had a good time and am looking forward to the next one. Have an AAS degreen in Avionics, a BS degree in Computer Science and am poor cuz I choose to work for an airline. Occasionally get to travel the world to look at planes for the company which is neat but the rest of the time I drive a computer and stare at the post hucker waiting for something cool to distract me from being bored. (If anyones hiring something cool that pays a lot let me know LOL). Currently finishing up my training for a commercial pilots license which I hope to get in the next month or two. Yeah I have a problem, everything I do somehow involves aviation.

[askforplanes]

My name is JP Stewart I have been flying for about 2 yrs. I have 3 50cc's and I am trying to finish my first 150cc, two years ago I would have never guessed that I would be flying giants (pun intended). I live in virginia and am going into 9th grade where I will also go to governors school for sci. and tech., hope to become an aerospace engineer and a pilot.

JP

[Pistolera]

Here goes....my name is Earle Andrews, and I live in Berkeley Springs, WV with my gorgeous wife Pat! I am retired from a 30 year career as a mine safety & health professional, and am now a full time artist. Both my wife & I are full scale pilots, me just for fun and she's a retired jet pilot in the corporate aviation world. We've got 2 great sons and 2 beautiful GRANDdaughters

I started flying competitive IAC aerobatics in 1985 (Advanced category), moved into Unlimited in 1986. I won the 1988 International Aerobatic Club Championship (Unlimited) at Fond du Lac, WI and was 2nd in 1990. (1989 we got married at Fond du Lac...I was a bit distracted and didn't finish well that year) Matt Chapman is an old IAC friend and I have to thank him for introducing me to my wife!!! You gave up a keeper, Matt. I quit flying full scale aerobatics in 1992....too much money and risk. We both still fly in our 1951 Ryan Navion Super 260.

I've flown a little RC here and there over the years, but the advance of electrics and 3D flying have now got me into it more heavily the last couple of years. I'm now flying a 3DHobbyShop 87" Extra SHP learning precision and 3D. Just got my feet wet in IMAC in 2009....YEEEEHAAAA! Looking forward to my next step up to 100cc!

Oh, and my handle came from my competitive pistol shooting days:12:
Earle

[mike bodiford]

Pistolera, YOU SOUND LIKE A REAL AMERICAN. I AM VERY GLADD TO MEET YOU.
COME ON IN THE 100CC ARE GREAT!

"THE AVIATOR"

[anders e]

Hi.
My name is Anders Engesvoll and i'm 34 years old. I live in Brandbu, 60km north of Oslo (Norway) with my girlfriend and our 5 year old daughter.
My first rc-plane was a parkzone decathlon 2006. (now it's just gassers) I like imac and 3d.
My work is smart-repair(cars)

LET'S FLY

[castlebravo]

My name is Chris Elliott (no...not THAT Chris Elliott) and I live in beautiful Hillsboro Oregon. I manage the Field Service department for a large lighting controls (commercial/industrial/theatrical) company. I have been doing this lighting gig for about 20 years now. Before that I was an avionics tech in the USMC. I worked on A-4F and TA-4J aircraft as part of the I&I staff for MAG-42, VMA-133.
I began flying Heli's in the early 90's and progressed as far as nose in flight and big figure 8's......then I got married and was put on hiatus. After 10 years of that nonsense, I was able to see the light and yadda yadda, in 2004.......no wife = new Helicopter! Not content with just getting back into the old boring habits, I decided that i would get a simple airplane to help my forward flight skills. We started with a couple of GWS Slo Sticks and then progressively moved up from there. My first big bird was a GP Ultimate about 3 years ago with a Fuji 43EI (I know, I know). Unfortunately it died doing what it loved...in an inverted flat spin. By the way, I became so hooked on airplanes, I sold all the heli's and never looked back!
As far as the personal life goes, if you have read my profile, you have probably clued in to the fact that I dont follow the same road that most of the rest of you follow. Yes, I am gay. I am partnered with wonderful person who is also an avid RC'er (who actually is a slightly better pilot than I am....sometimes). Now this may confuse you, but i refer my partner as "She" because she is a full time transgendered person. It's all very confusing to most people but once you get to know us, you find out that what we are really all about is living our lives in peace and of course, flying RC airplanes. Robyn is about to get either a 1/3 scale Pitts or a 50cc Extra for the upcomming birthday!
As for the things that garner my interest outside of RC, I am a RABID NASCAR FAN! Yes, I record every nascar race......Trucks, Nationwide, Cup......ARCA......heck, I even used to record every Hooters Pro Cup race before Speed stopped covering them. I also love NHRA Drag Racing, Formula 1, and IndyCar and record all those races. Yep........there is usually nothing else on my TV through the week except some form of auto racing.
My other peculiar area of interest is Nuclear history. I love to read about how the bombs were developed and tested. I have scores of books on theory, delivery systems, physics, etc. Thats where the screen name comes from.
I've also been into guns since I was in High School. Not so much now only because RC consumes about 90% of my non-working awake time. I still own a CETME .308 rifle and a Springfield 1911.
Oh yeah...........Me and my dopey partner are President and VP of Oregon Miniature Aircraft Squadron (OMAS). We have a big airshow in August open to all AMA Pilots. Hopefully you wont be hung up on the weirdos running the club and come on out and fly with us!

Peace!
CB