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A few words about the author of
RC Airplane World

Hello and Welcome!

In case you're wondering who's behind 'RC Airplane World', let me tell you a little bit about myself...

My name is Pete Carpenter, born and raised in the south of England in an area called The New Forest, which is a beautiful spot famous for its royal history, free-roaming ponies, open heathlands, ancient forests and traditional pubs.

Launch video in external player

I was introduced to the hobby of model flying at a very early age by my dad who had himself held a lifelong interest in the hobby, although never rc (I don't think it had been invented in those days!).

My parent's house backed on to a large field which was perfect for flying rubber band powered airplanes - many hours were spent in that field winding up these small balsa and tissue kits, or sometimes experimenting with our own designs now and again (those were never too successful for some reason...).

In fact, you can enjoy a short video from the early 1980s. I'm the skinny one on the left, with my brother [nice legs!].
My model in the video was a rubber powered Zugvögel, but the name of the manufacturer escapes me.

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More memories...

Good grief, I remember it like it was yesterday...
A very young me launching a rubber powered Piper Cub, somewhen around 1980 I think.
Nowadays, a model plane this size can be radio controlled - an impossible thing back then!

1984, or thereabouts, at Old Warden in Bedfordshire, UK.
Myself and dad with 2 of his models - a small rubber powered DH 'Puss Moth' and a larger electric free flight version.
This photo actually made it onto the front cover of Aeromodeller magazine!
Ah to be thin again, but maybe not that thin...

As the years passed it was inevitable that my interest grew to larger things - first with diesel powered free flight models and then on to radio control with my first ever rc model being a simple 2 channel glider (I'm still a big fan of rc gliders), then a 3 channel nitro trainer and then on to bigger and faster models.
(Of course, my addiction to radio control didn't stop at flying - by this time I was also in to rc cars and boats which is often the case for any 'rc head'!)

Mid 1990s judging by that very questionable haircut.
The model was a '40' sport airplane - great fun and one of the few planes that I managed to keep in one piece.

I soon joined a local rc model flying club where I could fly more regularly and get some better 'instruction' on aerobatics and all kinds of crazy maneuvers (yes, I did write off a few models in the process!).

My club's field was shared with full size aircraft too - obviously we were the ones who had to get out the way.
The model in the foreground was an early trainer which sadly 'died' when the ground interrupted my efforts to pull out from an over-ambitious spin...

My progression through the hobby of flying finally hit the big time in 1998 when I achieved my Private Pilots License for single engine aircraft; an achievement that I'm very proud of but this flying is currently 'on hold' for various reasons, although I sincerely hope to resume it in the future (the UK has to be the most expensive place in the world to fly, as is everything else, but that's another story...)

I finally made it onto the 'big' stuff!
"Tango Whiskey" is one of the Cessna 152s that I trained in and flew solo for the very first time.
Here we're on the tarmac at Bournemouth Airport, pre-flight!

My love of flying has never diminished - I think that if you're introduced to it at an early age it sticks with you for life.

And so I decided to create a website aimed at introducing people to this great pastime, and to give me an opportunity to write about something that I love!
I was never a big computer-user, but I bought a small digital camera several years ago (photography being another love of mine) which naturally got me using my computer on a regular basis.

I slowly taught myself how to write basic computer code, and with the help of Sitesell & SBI!, RC Airplane World was created and continues to grow on an almost daily basis.

My efforts with the website are regularly rewarded with e-mails from visitors complimenting me on the nature and style of the site, and thanking me for the information available. It's very satisfying to know that I've helped others to get into this great hobby!
And through the site, I've made contact with many interesting people from around the world and even had some invites to go flying in a few different countries! Even more recently, adding a forum to the site has increased those friendly contacts!

I'm not, and don't pretend to be, an RC-expert but RC Airplane World is a very genuine resource for anyone looking to get started in the hobby of radio control flying, and I'm very happy to share what I do know.
If you have found this site while surfing around for some information on the hobby, please do take a few minutes to browse the site - you might just find what you're looking for.

Happy Landings to you all!

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