Heaven on earth for RC’ers at Eli Field
In early June, Eli Field in Monticello, Illinois, turns into a festival of everything RC: jets, aerobats, monster trucks, helicopters, warbirds, drones, rock crawlers, race cars—you name it. If it flies, rolls, or crawls, you’ll see it there. The Horizon Hobby crew came out to Eli Field in force to run nonstop demonstrations and try-me activities on the ground and in the air for RC modelers (and soon-to-be RC modelers) of all ages and skill levels. With everything from 200mph jet aircraft, first-person-view (FPV) drone racing, rock crawling, night flying with a ring of fire, and all sorts of models and gear on display from Hangar 9, E-flite, Blade, Spektrum, and more, there was plenty to do and see all weekend. Let’s take a look…
CHRIS DICKERSON ON THE RC EXPERIENCEWe met up with Horizon Hobby President Chris Dickerson at the Horizon RC Fest to get his thoughts on the company and the state of the RC hobby. Read on to get the inside scoop on what’s new at the largest RC company in the world.
Model Airplane News: Congratulations, Chris, on your recent promotion! Going forward, what do you feel are your biggest opportunities and challenges?
Chris Dickerson: Thank you very much for the kind words. Customer preferences and tastes are changing as people move away from buying stuff and demanding experiences. RC provides a great experience and allows customers the opportunity to escape the stress of everyday life. It also allows them to live out their dream as an ace pilot, stunt car driver, or racer. With technologies like SAFE [sensor assisted flight envelope] in many of our recent electric-ducted-fan releases or AVC [active vehicle control] in our fast-surface vehicles, these experiences are available to a much larger audience. Our opportunity, and in many ways our challenge, is to make more people aware of this great experience.
This story is from the October 2019 edition of Model Airplane News.
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This story is from the October 2019 edition of Model Airplane News.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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