Jim’s first RC model was called “the Fiver” because he bought it built at a garage sale
for $5. It was actually a Savana .30. It flew great and crashed well too.
MY NAME IS Jim T. Graham. You might
also know me as “Billy H.” I’m going to tell
you the story of how I became addicted to
RC.
Airplanes and the Backwoods: I grew up in
the backwoods of Northern Texas on a 30-
acre exotic-animal ranch in the middle of
nowhere. In the summer my mornings were
spent feeding and taking care of the animals
and my afternoons were spent with my
grandpa.
How does this apply to RC, you may
wonder? My grandpa and I spent a lot of
time around airplanes. He would take me to
my uncle’s ranch that had a hangar and two
or three airplanes in it at any given time. He
also took me to every air show that came
near our area.
I can still remember the first airplane that
really got my attention, at the tender age of
6; it was a red biplane. (I didn’t know it
then, but it was a Pitts S-2B.) After that, I
was hooked.
Our ranch was just a few miles away
from Paron Air Force Base. It had been
closed in the 1960s, but once a year there
was an aerobatic fly-in there. The airplanes
would start to show up a week before the
event, and every day that week I would lie
on my back in the pasture for hours and
watch the different aircraft go up and
practice their routines. Then my grandpa
would take me to the show.
Can you imagine being able to do that as
a kid? It almost seems too cool to be real.
My dad had a friend who was a local test
pilot, and whenever possible he would take
me up with him and let me fly. I was lucky
enough to be able to do all these things until
I was a teenager, but then the fateful day
arrived; I had a truck of my own, a driver’s
license, and girls on the mind. The airplane
part of my life started to fall away.
The Rock-Star Period: While in college at
Baylor University in Waco, Texas, I would
ride my motorcycle to an RC field by the
lake and watch the guys fly for hours.
Having my own RC model didn’t seem like
a reality at the time, so I was content to ride
up and watch the show.
Somehow I landed in Los Angeles in the
early 1990s as a special-effects person on
music videos and movies. I was fortunate
enough to work with such people as Bruce
Springsteen, Neil Young, Madonna, and
Motley Crue.
RC touched my life once again when I
worked on a remote-control microphone
stand for a rap video. The artist would rap
and then the microphone would drive away.
I also did many shows that involved RC
helicopters with cameras. It just seemed too
far out of my reach to ever do anything like
that.
The great part about LA was that I had
long hair, a chopper, and worked with rock
bands, blowing things up for a living. The
downside was that I was in the LA riots, a
Jim bought his first profile model—the Duck—on a whim at a swap
meet for $30. Note the ancient Torpedo .40 on the nose. If you
scratch-built this model, E-mail him.
A scene from NashBro ’05. More than 70 pilots attended. The Pro
Bro vibe was fully engaged and everyone had a great time.
There was a local hotshot pilot at the
field—Bryce—who seemed happy to teach
people. I approached him, and later he said
he thought I looked better prepared to do a
rock show than to learn to fly an RC model.
My instructor met me at the field
anytime I asked and taught me many things
I still use to this day. He taught me thought
processes to use to keep my fingers out of
the propeller. He taught me how to fly
toward myself.
The advice Bryce gave me that I still use
is to never mentally give up on a model you
think is going to crash. He said to try to save
the airplane until it is in pieces on the
ground. That’s not just a good RC lesson,
but a good lesson for life as well.
I’m proud to say that Bryce and his wife
Liz have been good friends to me
throughout the years since then. That $5
airplane took away much of the stress I had
at the time and redirected it to what would
soon become my new vocation.
Pro Bro #1: My second airplane, and the
one that changed my life, was a scratchbuilt
Gee Bee profile I bought for $30 at a
swap meet in Columbia, Tennessee. It was
touchy on the first flight, but after I dialed it
in it was as tame as a kitten. As I became a
better pilot, this 3-D model was able to
grow with me by increasing the throws.
I didn’t know this new form of flying
was being invented by Quique Somenzini at
the Electric Tournament of Champions, but
I did see the videos online of people such as
myself hovering and doing 3-D with their
aircraft.
It was mind-blowing, but it also
offended many RC pilots. I was told that
what I was trying to do was not flying and
was an affront to RC in general.
In the early days of 3-D it was common
to be banned from a field for flying 3-D. I
was lucky to have a supportive club, but
others were not so lucky. Since no one in
my club flew 3-D, I spent most of my time
online finding the information I needed.
January 2007 85
Bryce Custer (L) took the time to teach the author how to fly. Jim tries to thank him
every chance he gets. The real way to thank an instructor is to teach someone else
how to fly.
Jim has helped Bobby Keyes—the saxophone player for the Rolling Stones—keep his
models in the air and his fingers going in the right directions.
The author gets to travel across the
country to cover RC fly-ins and shows for
RCGroups.com. It doesn’t get much
better than that!
home invasion, the Malibu forest fires, an
attempted robbery by an escaped convict,
the Malibu mudslides, and the Northridge
earthquake. I decided it was time for some
new scenery.
A $5 Airplane: The video world finally
took me to Nashville, Tennessee. I was an
art director for music videos and
ultimately ran a record label. I had a big
1976 Eldorado Cadillac and cool
songwriting friends.
My wife and I had a baby on the way,
and we had just purchased a new house—
and then the bottom fell out. When the dotcom
bomb hit, my investors got scared and
pulled all their money.
Let’s recap: I have no job, a new house,
and a baby on the way. Can you feel the
stress from where you’re sitting?
One day my wife and I walked across the
street to a garage sale. There sat a white,
low-wing airplane of some sort with a 48-
inch wingspan. I didn’t even realize it was
an RC model, but with a $5 price tag I knew
I had to have it. I took it home, and that
night my father-in-law informed me that it
was a Savana .30 and he was going to help
me get it into the air.
I also found out that there was an AMA
field and club only two miles away from my
house. With the help of Charlie Funk and
the Edwin Warner Modelers, my airplane
was ready to fly.
Who Is “Billy H.”? One of the things my
grandpa would say is “My brother and I
raised ‘Billy H.’ in Calisburg, Texas.” I
always liked the term and wanted to use it,
so when I went online in the RC forums I
used that as my nickname. Now 80% of my
RC friends call me Billy.
It was at roughly that time when I
accidentally started the infamous Profile
Brotherhood. It began as a picture of my
holding a profile model and staring off into
the distance, wearing what has come to be
known as the “thousand-mile stare.”
The thousand-mile stare originated when
I worked as a land surveyor with two
Vietnam veterans. On occasion one of the
guys would just stare off into the distance.
The other surveyor would tell me to just
leave the man alone—that he had on his
thousand-mile stare.
That picture of me holding my profile
aircraft prompted other profile pilots to take
similar pictures, and I edited them together
so we looked like we were all standing
together. Over the top were the words
“Profile Brothers.” An international club
was born that day.
The Profile Brotherhood was really a
bunch of 3-D pilots who had no support
from people at the field. We banded
together online and supported ourselves.
That was four years ago, and the
Brotherhood has close to 4,000 members
worldwide. We have had Pro Bro events
across the US and in Mexico and Australia.
The movement keeps growing.
I Get an E-mail: One night an E-mail
popped up on my screen from Jim Martin,
the owner of Hobby Lobby. He apologized
for not knowing my real name but said he
was interested in talking to “Billy H.” One
month later I was the public relations and
marketing person for Hobby Lobby
International.
Working in the industry has been an
amazing experience. It was great to find out
how tight-knit everyone in the RC industry
is.
I feel fortunate to have been around for
the birth and explosion of 3-D as well as the
realization of electric motors as a viable
power source for RC. My first real publicrelations
campaign was for the AXI motor
line. It was amazing to see something like
that grow into what it is today.
I remember the first real 3-D foamie I
ever saw; Jason Shulman was in a parking
lot late at night after the NEAT (Northeast
Electric Aircraft Technology) Fair hovering
it. He made that model do things I had
never seen, and I knew the RC airplane
hobby was about to change in a big way!
I’m proud to say I count Jason as a friend as
well.
Going to the Pro Bro fly-ins, the NEAT
Fair, the Toledo R/C Expo, the Joe Nall
Fly-In, and other events has allowed me to
become friends with the people who write
the columns and reviews I read religiously.
The best part is learning that these people
are like you and me; they have RC on the
brain, are ready to head out to the field
when they have an extra minute, and are
prepared to burn the midnight oil to share
their experiences with you and me.
It’s About the People: Now I run my own
RC business and excitedly go to as many
shows as possible, and I also do live
coverage at RC events for RCGroups.com. I
have been enamored with flight and
airplanes since I was a little boy, and I love
standing in a field with friends, throwing
my models around.
I love the smell of glow fuel on a cold
morning, but I’ve come to realize that that
is a small part of what makes me love this
hobby. This hobby is about the people—
those who will spend three months or more
to build an airplane, those who will spend
countless hours to prepare for a contest, and
those who will go through all the crashes
and expense to learn to fly because they
can’t live without it.
RC pilots are not your average Joes, and
I think that has a lot to do with why they are
some of the best people in the world. When
I go to certain events I look forward to the
people as much as the airplanes I’m going
to see, and that is what makes this hobby
great.
I want this column to focus on my love
for 3-D/aerobatic airplanes and the equally
interesting and important people who fly
and produce them.
Fly it like you hate it!
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/01
Page Numbers: 84,85,86
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/01
Page Numbers: 84,85,86
Jim’s first RC model was called “the Fiver” because he bought it built at a garage sale
for $5. It was actually a Savana .30. It flew great and crashed well too.
MY NAME IS Jim T. Graham. You might
also know me as “Billy H.” I’m going to tell
you the story of how I became addicted to
RC.
Airplanes and the Backwoods: I grew up in
the backwoods of Northern Texas on a 30-
acre exotic-animal ranch in the middle of
nowhere. In the summer my mornings were
spent feeding and taking care of the animals
and my afternoons were spent with my
grandpa.
How does this apply to RC, you may
wonder? My grandpa and I spent a lot of
time around airplanes. He would take me to
my uncle’s ranch that had a hangar and two
or three airplanes in it at any given time. He
also took me to every air show that came
near our area.
I can still remember the first airplane that
really got my attention, at the tender age of
6; it was a red biplane. (I didn’t know it
then, but it was a Pitts S-2B.) After that, I
was hooked.
Our ranch was just a few miles away
from Paron Air Force Base. It had been
closed in the 1960s, but once a year there
was an aerobatic fly-in there. The airplanes
would start to show up a week before the
event, and every day that week I would lie
on my back in the pasture for hours and
watch the different aircraft go up and
practice their routines. Then my grandpa
would take me to the show.
Can you imagine being able to do that as
a kid? It almost seems too cool to be real.
My dad had a friend who was a local test
pilot, and whenever possible he would take
me up with him and let me fly. I was lucky
enough to be able to do all these things until
I was a teenager, but then the fateful day
arrived; I had a truck of my own, a driver’s
license, and girls on the mind. The airplane
part of my life started to fall away.
The Rock-Star Period: While in college at
Baylor University in Waco, Texas, I would
ride my motorcycle to an RC field by the
lake and watch the guys fly for hours.
Having my own RC model didn’t seem like
a reality at the time, so I was content to ride
up and watch the show.
Somehow I landed in Los Angeles in the
early 1990s as a special-effects person on
music videos and movies. I was fortunate
enough to work with such people as Bruce
Springsteen, Neil Young, Madonna, and
Motley Crue.
RC touched my life once again when I
worked on a remote-control microphone
stand for a rap video. The artist would rap
and then the microphone would drive away.
I also did many shows that involved RC
helicopters with cameras. It just seemed too
far out of my reach to ever do anything like
that.
The great part about LA was that I had
long hair, a chopper, and worked with rock
bands, blowing things up for a living. The
downside was that I was in the LA riots, a
Jim bought his first profile model—the Duck—on a whim at a swap
meet for $30. Note the ancient Torpedo .40 on the nose. If you
scratch-built this model, E-mail him.
A scene from NashBro ’05. More than 70 pilots attended. The Pro
Bro vibe was fully engaged and everyone had a great time.
There was a local hotshot pilot at the
field—Bryce—who seemed happy to teach
people. I approached him, and later he said
he thought I looked better prepared to do a
rock show than to learn to fly an RC model.
My instructor met me at the field
anytime I asked and taught me many things
I still use to this day. He taught me thought
processes to use to keep my fingers out of
the propeller. He taught me how to fly
toward myself.
The advice Bryce gave me that I still use
is to never mentally give up on a model you
think is going to crash. He said to try to save
the airplane until it is in pieces on the
ground. That’s not just a good RC lesson,
but a good lesson for life as well.
I’m proud to say that Bryce and his wife
Liz have been good friends to me
throughout the years since then. That $5
airplane took away much of the stress I had
at the time and redirected it to what would
soon become my new vocation.
Pro Bro #1: My second airplane, and the
one that changed my life, was a scratchbuilt
Gee Bee profile I bought for $30 at a
swap meet in Columbia, Tennessee. It was
touchy on the first flight, but after I dialed it
in it was as tame as a kitten. As I became a
better pilot, this 3-D model was able to
grow with me by increasing the throws.
I didn’t know this new form of flying
was being invented by Quique Somenzini at
the Electric Tournament of Champions, but
I did see the videos online of people such as
myself hovering and doing 3-D with their
aircraft.
It was mind-blowing, but it also
offended many RC pilots. I was told that
what I was trying to do was not flying and
was an affront to RC in general.
In the early days of 3-D it was common
to be banned from a field for flying 3-D. I
was lucky to have a supportive club, but
others were not so lucky. Since no one in
my club flew 3-D, I spent most of my time
online finding the information I needed.
January 2007 85
Bryce Custer (L) took the time to teach the author how to fly. Jim tries to thank him
every chance he gets. The real way to thank an instructor is to teach someone else
how to fly.
Jim has helped Bobby Keyes—the saxophone player for the Rolling Stones—keep his
models in the air and his fingers going in the right directions.
The author gets to travel across the
country to cover RC fly-ins and shows for
RCGroups.com. It doesn’t get much
better than that!
home invasion, the Malibu forest fires, an
attempted robbery by an escaped convict,
the Malibu mudslides, and the Northridge
earthquake. I decided it was time for some
new scenery.
A $5 Airplane: The video world finally
took me to Nashville, Tennessee. I was an
art director for music videos and
ultimately ran a record label. I had a big
1976 Eldorado Cadillac and cool
songwriting friends.
My wife and I had a baby on the way,
and we had just purchased a new house—
and then the bottom fell out. When the dotcom
bomb hit, my investors got scared and
pulled all their money.
Let’s recap: I have no job, a new house,
and a baby on the way. Can you feel the
stress from where you’re sitting?
One day my wife and I walked across the
street to a garage sale. There sat a white,
low-wing airplane of some sort with a 48-
inch wingspan. I didn’t even realize it was
an RC model, but with a $5 price tag I knew
I had to have it. I took it home, and that
night my father-in-law informed me that it
was a Savana .30 and he was going to help
me get it into the air.
I also found out that there was an AMA
field and club only two miles away from my
house. With the help of Charlie Funk and
the Edwin Warner Modelers, my airplane
was ready to fly.
Who Is “Billy H.”? One of the things my
grandpa would say is “My brother and I
raised ‘Billy H.’ in Calisburg, Texas.” I
always liked the term and wanted to use it,
so when I went online in the RC forums I
used that as my nickname. Now 80% of my
RC friends call me Billy.
It was at roughly that time when I
accidentally started the infamous Profile
Brotherhood. It began as a picture of my
holding a profile model and staring off into
the distance, wearing what has come to be
known as the “thousand-mile stare.”
The thousand-mile stare originated when
I worked as a land surveyor with two
Vietnam veterans. On occasion one of the
guys would just stare off into the distance.
The other surveyor would tell me to just
leave the man alone—that he had on his
thousand-mile stare.
That picture of me holding my profile
aircraft prompted other profile pilots to take
similar pictures, and I edited them together
so we looked like we were all standing
together. Over the top were the words
“Profile Brothers.” An international club
was born that day.
The Profile Brotherhood was really a
bunch of 3-D pilots who had no support
from people at the field. We banded
together online and supported ourselves.
That was four years ago, and the
Brotherhood has close to 4,000 members
worldwide. We have had Pro Bro events
across the US and in Mexico and Australia.
The movement keeps growing.
I Get an E-mail: One night an E-mail
popped up on my screen from Jim Martin,
the owner of Hobby Lobby. He apologized
for not knowing my real name but said he
was interested in talking to “Billy H.” One
month later I was the public relations and
marketing person for Hobby Lobby
International.
Working in the industry has been an
amazing experience. It was great to find out
how tight-knit everyone in the RC industry
is.
I feel fortunate to have been around for
the birth and explosion of 3-D as well as the
realization of electric motors as a viable
power source for RC. My first real publicrelations
campaign was for the AXI motor
line. It was amazing to see something like
that grow into what it is today.
I remember the first real 3-D foamie I
ever saw; Jason Shulman was in a parking
lot late at night after the NEAT (Northeast
Electric Aircraft Technology) Fair hovering
it. He made that model do things I had
never seen, and I knew the RC airplane
hobby was about to change in a big way!
I’m proud to say I count Jason as a friend as
well.
Going to the Pro Bro fly-ins, the NEAT
Fair, the Toledo R/C Expo, the Joe Nall
Fly-In, and other events has allowed me to
become friends with the people who write
the columns and reviews I read religiously.
The best part is learning that these people
are like you and me; they have RC on the
brain, are ready to head out to the field
when they have an extra minute, and are
prepared to burn the midnight oil to share
their experiences with you and me.
It’s About the People: Now I run my own
RC business and excitedly go to as many
shows as possible, and I also do live
coverage at RC events for RCGroups.com. I
have been enamored with flight and
airplanes since I was a little boy, and I love
standing in a field with friends, throwing
my models around.
I love the smell of glow fuel on a cold
morning, but I’ve come to realize that that
is a small part of what makes me love this
hobby. This hobby is about the people—
those who will spend three months or more
to build an airplane, those who will spend
countless hours to prepare for a contest, and
those who will go through all the crashes
and expense to learn to fly because they
can’t live without it.
RC pilots are not your average Joes, and
I think that has a lot to do with why they are
some of the best people in the world. When
I go to certain events I look forward to the
people as much as the airplanes I’m going
to see, and that is what makes this hobby
great.
I want this column to focus on my love
for 3-D/aerobatic airplanes and the equally
interesting and important people who fly
and produce them.
Fly it like you hate it!
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/01
Page Numbers: 84,85,86
Jim’s first RC model was called “the Fiver” because he bought it built at a garage sale
for $5. It was actually a Savana .30. It flew great and crashed well too.
MY NAME IS Jim T. Graham. You might
also know me as “Billy H.” I’m going to tell
you the story of how I became addicted to
RC.
Airplanes and the Backwoods: I grew up in
the backwoods of Northern Texas on a 30-
acre exotic-animal ranch in the middle of
nowhere. In the summer my mornings were
spent feeding and taking care of the animals
and my afternoons were spent with my
grandpa.
How does this apply to RC, you may
wonder? My grandpa and I spent a lot of
time around airplanes. He would take me to
my uncle’s ranch that had a hangar and two
or three airplanes in it at any given time. He
also took me to every air show that came
near our area.
I can still remember the first airplane that
really got my attention, at the tender age of
6; it was a red biplane. (I didn’t know it
then, but it was a Pitts S-2B.) After that, I
was hooked.
Our ranch was just a few miles away
from Paron Air Force Base. It had been
closed in the 1960s, but once a year there
was an aerobatic fly-in there. The airplanes
would start to show up a week before the
event, and every day that week I would lie
on my back in the pasture for hours and
watch the different aircraft go up and
practice their routines. Then my grandpa
would take me to the show.
Can you imagine being able to do that as
a kid? It almost seems too cool to be real.
My dad had a friend who was a local test
pilot, and whenever possible he would take
me up with him and let me fly. I was lucky
enough to be able to do all these things until
I was a teenager, but then the fateful day
arrived; I had a truck of my own, a driver’s
license, and girls on the mind. The airplane
part of my life started to fall away.
The Rock-Star Period: While in college at
Baylor University in Waco, Texas, I would
ride my motorcycle to an RC field by the
lake and watch the guys fly for hours.
Having my own RC model didn’t seem like
a reality at the time, so I was content to ride
up and watch the show.
Somehow I landed in Los Angeles in the
early 1990s as a special-effects person on
music videos and movies. I was fortunate
enough to work with such people as Bruce
Springsteen, Neil Young, Madonna, and
Motley Crue.
RC touched my life once again when I
worked on a remote-control microphone
stand for a rap video. The artist would rap
and then the microphone would drive away.
I also did many shows that involved RC
helicopters with cameras. It just seemed too
far out of my reach to ever do anything like
that.
The great part about LA was that I had
long hair, a chopper, and worked with rock
bands, blowing things up for a living. The
downside was that I was in the LA riots, a
Jim bought his first profile model—the Duck—on a whim at a swap
meet for $30. Note the ancient Torpedo .40 on the nose. If you
scratch-built this model, E-mail him.
A scene from NashBro ’05. More than 70 pilots attended. The Pro
Bro vibe was fully engaged and everyone had a great time.
There was a local hotshot pilot at the
field—Bryce—who seemed happy to teach
people. I approached him, and later he said
he thought I looked better prepared to do a
rock show than to learn to fly an RC model.
My instructor met me at the field
anytime I asked and taught me many things
I still use to this day. He taught me thought
processes to use to keep my fingers out of
the propeller. He taught me how to fly
toward myself.
The advice Bryce gave me that I still use
is to never mentally give up on a model you
think is going to crash. He said to try to save
the airplane until it is in pieces on the
ground. That’s not just a good RC lesson,
but a good lesson for life as well.
I’m proud to say that Bryce and his wife
Liz have been good friends to me
throughout the years since then. That $5
airplane took away much of the stress I had
at the time and redirected it to what would
soon become my new vocation.
Pro Bro #1: My second airplane, and the
one that changed my life, was a scratchbuilt
Gee Bee profile I bought for $30 at a
swap meet in Columbia, Tennessee. It was
touchy on the first flight, but after I dialed it
in it was as tame as a kitten. As I became a
better pilot, this 3-D model was able to
grow with me by increasing the throws.
I didn’t know this new form of flying
was being invented by Quique Somenzini at
the Electric Tournament of Champions, but
I did see the videos online of people such as
myself hovering and doing 3-D with their
aircraft.
It was mind-blowing, but it also
offended many RC pilots. I was told that
what I was trying to do was not flying and
was an affront to RC in general.
In the early days of 3-D it was common
to be banned from a field for flying 3-D. I
was lucky to have a supportive club, but
others were not so lucky. Since no one in
my club flew 3-D, I spent most of my time
online finding the information I needed.
January 2007 85
Bryce Custer (L) took the time to teach the author how to fly. Jim tries to thank him
every chance he gets. The real way to thank an instructor is to teach someone else
how to fly.
Jim has helped Bobby Keyes—the saxophone player for the Rolling Stones—keep his
models in the air and his fingers going in the right directions.
The author gets to travel across the
country to cover RC fly-ins and shows for
RCGroups.com. It doesn’t get much
better than that!
home invasion, the Malibu forest fires, an
attempted robbery by an escaped convict,
the Malibu mudslides, and the Northridge
earthquake. I decided it was time for some
new scenery.
A $5 Airplane: The video world finally
took me to Nashville, Tennessee. I was an
art director for music videos and
ultimately ran a record label. I had a big
1976 Eldorado Cadillac and cool
songwriting friends.
My wife and I had a baby on the way,
and we had just purchased a new house—
and then the bottom fell out. When the dotcom
bomb hit, my investors got scared and
pulled all their money.
Let’s recap: I have no job, a new house,
and a baby on the way. Can you feel the
stress from where you’re sitting?
One day my wife and I walked across the
street to a garage sale. There sat a white,
low-wing airplane of some sort with a 48-
inch wingspan. I didn’t even realize it was
an RC model, but with a $5 price tag I knew
I had to have it. I took it home, and that
night my father-in-law informed me that it
was a Savana .30 and he was going to help
me get it into the air.
I also found out that there was an AMA
field and club only two miles away from my
house. With the help of Charlie Funk and
the Edwin Warner Modelers, my airplane
was ready to fly.
Who Is “Billy H.”? One of the things my
grandpa would say is “My brother and I
raised ‘Billy H.’ in Calisburg, Texas.” I
always liked the term and wanted to use it,
so when I went online in the RC forums I
used that as my nickname. Now 80% of my
RC friends call me Billy.
It was at roughly that time when I
accidentally started the infamous Profile
Brotherhood. It began as a picture of my
holding a profile model and staring off into
the distance, wearing what has come to be
known as the “thousand-mile stare.”
The thousand-mile stare originated when
I worked as a land surveyor with two
Vietnam veterans. On occasion one of the
guys would just stare off into the distance.
The other surveyor would tell me to just
leave the man alone—that he had on his
thousand-mile stare.
That picture of me holding my profile
aircraft prompted other profile pilots to take
similar pictures, and I edited them together
so we looked like we were all standing
together. Over the top were the words
“Profile Brothers.” An international club
was born that day.
The Profile Brotherhood was really a
bunch of 3-D pilots who had no support
from people at the field. We banded
together online and supported ourselves.
That was four years ago, and the
Brotherhood has close to 4,000 members
worldwide. We have had Pro Bro events
across the US and in Mexico and Australia.
The movement keeps growing.
I Get an E-mail: One night an E-mail
popped up on my screen from Jim Martin,
the owner of Hobby Lobby. He apologized
for not knowing my real name but said he
was interested in talking to “Billy H.” One
month later I was the public relations and
marketing person for Hobby Lobby
International.
Working in the industry has been an
amazing experience. It was great to find out
how tight-knit everyone in the RC industry
is.
I feel fortunate to have been around for
the birth and explosion of 3-D as well as the
realization of electric motors as a viable
power source for RC. My first real publicrelations
campaign was for the AXI motor
line. It was amazing to see something like
that grow into what it is today.
I remember the first real 3-D foamie I
ever saw; Jason Shulman was in a parking
lot late at night after the NEAT (Northeast
Electric Aircraft Technology) Fair hovering
it. He made that model do things I had
never seen, and I knew the RC airplane
hobby was about to change in a big way!
I’m proud to say I count Jason as a friend as
well.
Going to the Pro Bro fly-ins, the NEAT
Fair, the Toledo R/C Expo, the Joe Nall
Fly-In, and other events has allowed me to
become friends with the people who write
the columns and reviews I read religiously.
The best part is learning that these people
are like you and me; they have RC on the
brain, are ready to head out to the field
when they have an extra minute, and are
prepared to burn the midnight oil to share
their experiences with you and me.
It’s About the People: Now I run my own
RC business and excitedly go to as many
shows as possible, and I also do live
coverage at RC events for RCGroups.com. I
have been enamored with flight and
airplanes since I was a little boy, and I love
standing in a field with friends, throwing
my models around.
I love the smell of glow fuel on a cold
morning, but I’ve come to realize that that
is a small part of what makes me love this
hobby. This hobby is about the people—
those who will spend three months or more
to build an airplane, those who will spend
countless hours to prepare for a contest, and
those who will go through all the crashes
and expense to learn to fly because they
can’t live without it.
RC pilots are not your average Joes, and
I think that has a lot to do with why they are
some of the best people in the world. When
I go to certain events I look forward to the
people as much as the airplanes I’m going
to see, and that is what makes this hobby
great.
I want this column to focus on my love
for 3-D/aerobatic airplanes and the equally
interesting and important people who fly
and produce them.
Fly it like you hate it!