I have a story about a gentleman that I believe sums up the value of life ,a person dedicated to trying and very good at succeeding.

    On New Years Eve 97-98 I was invited along with my wife to a friends home to celebrate New Years and met Mr. Harry Kleindinst ,well Harry and I seemed to hit it off almost immediately, we both enjoy boating, I like power boats and he enjoys sailing. Harry just bought a new ST1000 motorcycle and he was with me when I purchased my new bike ,we rode over 2,500 miles this past summer. Harry loves aircraft ,he’s been to Osh Kosh several times. When I first met Harry I thought that I heard of this guy several times over the years but had never met him. I was aware of his excellent skills in building scale aircraft and knew that he was affiliated with one of the other R/C Clubs in the area and assumed he spent most of his time with that Club but this was not the case.

    It’s a great thing to inspire people in areas that they enjoy no matter how young or old they are. Harry says that I reinspired him in a hobby he loves, his skills in construction and technique are far above average.

    R/C Pilots In Training offers me the opportunity to tell all about a great guy, an excellent builder and wonderful student. To shorten this story I convinced Harry to build a trainer that I was most comfortable with and knew would perform well for both of us. Two and a half weeks after buying this kit much to my surprise the thing was all done and ready go, Geezer, now Harry’s chompin at the bit and I’m chewin my finger nails. Finally the weather gets nice enough to see how well this fledgling model, that looks great, will handle on the ground OK. We fired up and tuned the engine, I took a deep breath, I don’t wanna screw this guys new plane up ya know, and started to taxi down the runway, in the test area not from our regular flying position 500 feet or so further down the runway, then "Poof" like magic this thing was airborne, a pop on the throttle, a gust of wind and all of a sudden I’ve got my hands full of someone else’s "Brand New Airplane", before I could spit tobacco if I chewed it. Holly Cow!!!!

    Well Harry’s excitement at finally seeing some of his work free it self from the bonds of earth are beyond words, we’ve all had this feeling at one time or another. Now back to my dilemma, get up, oh boy,  it sure seems windy up there, OK, a little up elevator, Yeah, I know, Harry this sure is fun, lets fly and walk at the same time OK, oh-boy, lets see a little left rudder trim should help, to much, OK, yeah Harry, it sure is pretty up there, keep walking we’re gonna need to be in position down the field to set up for a landing, golly this thing really fly’s great, just a little aileron trim, we should be in business ,boy Harry sure seems thrilled. I hope I can get it back with no problems this wind sure is gusty ,I’ll make a few approaches to land and see how she handles. Well that was too high and too fast ,OK that’s better ,man ,this thing wants to keep flying ,Harry it’s built too well it doesn’t want to land, OK a little down trim and slower engine speed, great what a nice glide slope,  this will work. Now lets go around and see what she’ll do, nice loop, nice jumpin Harry, OK pretty good Cuban 8, nice jumpin Harry, really nice split S, great flying plane, nice jumpin Harry, lets get her down, setup looks good, approach is good a little dicey wind but doin good, down, down, easy flair OK!!!! Nice airplane, nice jumpin Harry, great job. Next time you fly and I'll watch!!!!

George Gard