Welcome to my Park Jet blog :)

Hi Everyone -

I humbly welcome you to the first post of my new Park Jet blog.  I have been part of other park jet style blogs in the past, but decided it was time to start fresh and new with the New Year 2018 coming up and strike out on my own.

A little about me, I'm retired from the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) after serving proudly for almost 30 yrs as an Aerospace Controller.  Basically that meant talking to airplanes (well the pilots in them actually, if they caught me talking to planes, I might have been kicked out 😌) in many different capacities.  I worked as an Air Weapons Controller which in the US Air Force would be called an Air Battle Manager and in many other countries a fighter controller.  I also worked doing Air Traffic Control going from sitting underground in a dark room staring at a scope talking to fighters to a room with a view👍 My final job before I retired was as a Mission Crew Commander (MCC) on board the E-3 Sentry AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) stationed at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma, this time doing my job from about 29000 ft up ☺  Hence why if you follow my YouTube channel or have read any of my posts on the RC Powers forum, I use the nickname e3Scott.  Here is my mandatory Air Force hero shot taken just before I retired standing on the steps at the back entrance to an E-3.

I have currently been in the RC hobby for about seven years although early on I had to take an extended sabbatical to deal with some life issues.  Since getting back on track, I have been flying RC consistently for about five and a half years, flying my first park jet five years ago this month.  RC Powers was what got me into this hobby.  I have been a die hard fan of fighter jets since I was a small boy and have been lucky enough to have several back seat rides in the real thing during my Air Force career.  No amusement park could build a ride to compare with that!  Still to this day I get chills up my spine and a smile on my face when I see and hear a fighter jet fly over.  Just something about the mixture of graceful movement and raw power that fascinates me. So when I saw what RC Powers was doing and how inexpensive it would be to build and fly my own foam park jet, I was hooked and have been incredibly passionate about park jets ever since.

So on to the star of the blog, park jets✈  So what is a park jet you might ask?  Well, like many things in life, they come in all shapes and sizes, here are a couple of my favorites below.

Essentially, they are scratch built RC (radio control) planes using electric motors, normally built with foam, reinforced with carbon rod/tube or other manner of reinforcement built from plans available for purchase or free from the internet or self designed.  There are many, many designers out there which will be another article on it's own.  They are designed to look like real jets, the one on the left above is a Mig-35, the one on the right an F-22.  Although there are some that have the motor mounted on the tail and don't have a hole in the middle, the most popular design is called mid motor mount or "prop in slot" as you can see in this picture.  Although some are designed or can be modified to use an EDF (electric ducted fan), I am a die hard fan of prop driven park jets.

What attracts me to park jets and has given me years of fun and satisfaction is after an initial outlay of cash to get some foam and gear, they are inexpensive to build, fun to fly and can be relatively easily modified to suit your particular flying style.  They are relatively easy to repair or if you destroy one and the components are still good, you can easily recycle them to a new plane.  For me, they are certainly high on the "fun to dollar ratio".  In other words, a lot of fun for very little money spent and I get the satisfaction of flying a plane I have built myself completely from scratch which is a lot of fun and keeps my creativity alive and kicking.

So what are my goals with this blog?  Well, I'm still sorting that out, but here are a few things I hope to accomplish -

1. Keep it fun, that is why I am in this hobby, otherwise, why bother?!
2. Keep it educational and informative.  I have learned a lot in five years of flying park jets, much of it through trial and error (heavy on the error...😞), so if I can pass along what works for me in a way that may save you grief or help you along, that gives me a lot of satisfaction.  Also, I was an instructor for most of my Air Force career and I loved teaching, so this blog and increasing the educational content of my YT channel helps me exercise those "muscles" once in awhile😊; 
3. Keep it honest.  My integrity and credibility are very important to me, so if I discuss a product or how I do a certain thing, it is because it has worked for me for a very long time and I have the utmost confidence in it.  I get no kickbacks/sponsorship or recognition from any of the vendors or companies that sell products I use, so my recommendations are based on good value and solid performance, not any financial gain by me;
4. Keep it about park jets.  Obviously there will be bits and pieces from other aspects of the hobby enter into discussion, for example I currently am testing a series of quad racing motors for use in park jets, but the primary focus will be about selecting, building and flying park jets; and
5. Keep it fun! (did I say that already...being on the wrong side of 55 does things to my memory sometimes!)  

Things I will do my best not to make this channel 

1. Negative and highly opinionated.  Of course I have my opinions and things I like and dislike about certain products or trends in the community, but there is nothing gained by being negative, so that won't happen to the best of my ability.  If it does, I hope readers will call me out on it and I will get myself sorted.  I'll state facts I can back up from research or personal experience, but nothing else;
2. Too overly technical.  Which is actually pretty easy as I'm not a terribly technical guy.😉  I certainly know a lot of the basic rules of thumb to make my components work well together and my planes fly well, but I am still "drinking from a fire hose" so to speak learning how the "guts" of motors/ESCs/batteries/servos, etc work.  Where possible, I will simply refer to folks who I have learned from and trust and credit them with being the right person to talk to and learn from; and
3. Boring.  I sometimes do ramble a little bit when I get passionate about a topic, but I will do my best to keep it light, informative and useful to the reader.  I think more video content may also help which is part of my focus.

Well folks, if you are still with me, I once again humbly and thankfully welcome you to my new Park Jet blog.  

Welcome aboard, as fighter pilots would say, "time to kick the tires and light the fires" and get this bad boy going 👍  If you have questions or ideas for articles, please feel free to e-mail me at scott.parkjet@gmail.com.  This e-mail address will be used to deal solely with this blog.

Park Jet noise...the "other" sound of freedom😎

Cheers,

Scott