Sport or Hobby By James Goss      The other day I was surfing through RC Online when I came across the Speaker's Corner. This is a forum where people can post just about anything concerning radio control and its spin offs. I had seen this topic debated many times in the past and had not really thought much about it until now. What caught my attention was when I came across a post that made me stop and say “ what the **** is this guy talking about”, I have no skill! His post stated that RC couldn't be a sport because it doesn't take any skill to do what we do. Yes, that's right, we have absolutely no skill, that's what the man said. What do you fellow flyers think about that? Do you agree with this guy or do you think he is a “want to be pilot” that is a little jealous. I would like to see this fellow sink about $500 in a plane, build it, and then fly it with his no-skill-needed technique. I don't think I have ever seen a successful flight by anyone on his first time at the field. Just go to the field and fly it with absolutely no help from anyone. Now I have seen several try it and crash in just a few minutes, or in some cases seconds. They were a little bit more humble after that short flight.  Do you think that maybe they could now see that a little skill was needed? I think that most of you feel as I do and take flying model planes very serious.  We take a lot of pride in what we are doing and I think this is the best sport around.      I liked what one fellow said about it. He thinks of it as a hobby while he is building the plane and also while he taxies it around on the ground, but when it leaves the ground it quickly becomes a sport, a very serious sport. Lets take a sport such as golf for an example. Now the first time I ever walked onto a golf course I was able to play the game with some success, not great, but fair. The same logic with other sports I have tried. I had the basics of the game immediately and was able to perform with some prosperity. Again, you can't have this same basic success with RC planes. A beginner can't just go out and fly the first time and make it through the game, so to speak, with his plane in one piece. Could this mean that it takes more skill for RC than it does for other sports while learning the basics? Now I am not picking on golf because I know it takes a great deal of practice to have a good score in the game. If sports are recognized by their special skills needed to perform in that sport, then RC can surely be thought of as a sport. Folks will argue that a sports star will spend years training and perfecting his chosen sport, and this is true, but an RC pilot will also spend years and years of practicing his craft before he is good at it.      Sports can be defined in many ways; some people seem to think of sports as being related to money in one way or another. Others think of it as a way to amuse oneself and as a source of recreation. Is this not what we do each week? Still others define it as a way to show or display one's talent and skills learned. Again this sounds like us RC guys. Still others describe a sport as a physical activity engaged in for its pleasures. Now I will be the first to admit that flying models is not very physical, but it will give your heart a good workout from time to time. I don't think a game of golf could possibly get your adrenaline flowing more than flying a new plane for the first time, or a near crash and recover. Even to a pilot that has many years of flying under his belt, that first flight with a new plane is always exciting, and we tend to get stimulated and in some cases nervous and short of breath. Sounds like a good workout to me.      The following was my response to the thread “sport or hobby” and was posted on 02/16/01.      I don't know of many sports that can get your heart pumping the way flying a hot fun-fly or giant- scale plane does and without the physical activity involved. There is just as much, if not more, skill needed when flying some of the advanced aerobatic stunts as in any golf game or any other sport. Skill is skill, and it doesn't matter how you display it. You can call it a game, sport, hobby, work, or play, but please don't say that RC has no skill involved.            James Goss      So let me sum-up by saying I don't think of RC as a sport or hobby when I am at the field. I just have a lot of fun while flying and I love to watch the other planes fly as well. I am just happy that the sport/hobby is still going strong, and I think it can be a life long duration if you approach it in the right way. See you at the field soon!