RC comes of age Never before has the hobby / sport of building and flying radio controlled aircraft had so much to offer. There is now a highly developed 'community' specializing in every conceivable niche interest and offering each of these groups an unprecedented range of possibilities.

For the serious competition flyer there are planes and helicopters that perform with amazing agility. For the serious scale builder it is now possible, for example, to construct a scale fighter jet that looks, sounds and flies as near to the real thing as humanly possible. For the casual weekend flyer there are aircraft in a vast selection of types and price ranges, nitro power, petrol, electric and even jet turbines.

For the beginner it has never been so easy to learn to fly. With the use of modern simulators it is possible to cut the time involved in learning the basics to a fraction of what it used to be. In addition to the tools available now that help reduce the flying skill learning curve, there are also airplane and helicopter kits that are prefabricated from the factory so that very little time or skill is required to have an aircraft ready to fly.

Modern radio transmitters offer a great deal of programmability to customize and store control settings and setups for various types of planes. All sorts of other electronic gadgets have become available as well to make the flying experience safer and more convenient.

To top it all off, the manufacturing and supply side of the equation has gone from small 'cottage industry' type outfits to the utilization of high-tech CNC machining, 'exotic' materials like carbon fibre and the ready availability of high volume manufacturing techniques. The result of all this has meant that aircraft components now easily available would have been the stuff of dreams in years past and perhaps best of all is that all this is surprisingly affordable with a range of products to suit every skill and experience level.

In summary there has never been a better time to get started.