"Steve R." wrote in message
...
"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" skiddz *AT* adelphia *DOT* net wrote in
message ...
On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 15:23:34 GMT, "Steve R."
wrote:

[snip]
The guys mentioned above are pretty much professionals. I can't say for
certain with Alan and Scott but Curtis and Jason actually make their
living
flying RC helicopters. They're that good!

Curtis has been flying RC helos for YEARS. He was the guy I strived
to be like when I could afford (lol) RC helos. Unfortunately, my
thumbs and fingers didn't strive to be like him and I balled up many a
model.


Yup! The first time I ever saw Curtis fly was at the 1986 Nat's in
Sulphur, LA. I think he was 18yo. He kicked some serious butt at that
contest and came in first place. Since then, he's done nothing but get
better and as far as I can tell, he almost single handedly started the 3D
craze in RC helicopters. He also won the AMA Nat's for something like 11
year in a row. A string of wins that was finally terminated when Scott
Grey beat Curtis in Muncie, IN. in 2003.

I've been lucky in that we both live in Texas (about 2 hours apart) so
I've seen him fly at many fun-flies and contests through the years in our
general area. I also went through a "brief" period of think he was
someone I might want to emulate but every time I saw him fly, he seemed to
be a light year ahead of the last time I saw him fly. When I first saw
him perform a pirouetting loop (!), I thought, "forget that!" It was
impressive indeed, but not something I could see myself doing. Maybe some
day!

Steve, I'd been flying some serious 3D for a fair while before I attempted
my first pirouetting loop. I went for a single piro taking the full loop to
make the full 360 yaw. I got to 320 :-))

2nd one was Ok, but that was three weeks and 500 quid later.

Beav