Our new “What’s Cookin’?” series on RCSoup brings you an exclusive look at our hobby from our Team’s perspective. We’ll touch base on industry trends, rant about track politics, and give you our general opinion on just about everything r/c. So grab a glass of iced tea, sit back and enjoy. Have a subject you want us to address? Leave us a note here.

It’s ok, we can fix it. – By Casey Retke

I was only around 8 years old when my Dad introduced me to a control line airplane. You start it up, and spin in a circle while controlling altitude with 2 strings. We sat together and built it from a balsa wood kit while talking as fathers and sons do.

The first flight was my Dad’s and he flew it around and around while laughing and smiling. Then it was my turn and after maybe 2 circles I pulled the elevator too hard, did half a loop and smashed it to bits on the pavement. I immediately started crying because I felt so bad for destroying what we had worked together to build. My Dad comforted me, patted me on the back and told me, “It’s ok, we can fix it.”

‘We can fix it’ boiled down to my Dad scrapping all the parts off the ground and spending the next two weeks gluing together the tattered remains. He was so happy to show me that it really was ok and that I didn’t need to feel so bad about it. His first flight out, the string stuck, and it was freshly blasted into a million pieces as it smashed into the pavement for a second time.

I walked up to him, patted him on the back and said, “It’s ok, we can fix it”

Granted, that was the end of that airplane, but the story is one of my Dad’s favorites because I emulated his response to me in tone, emotion and wording.

‘This’ was my first hobby experience and likely the root of my R/C passion. It was not a competition, it had nothing to do with winning or losing, there was no sponsorship on the line and it was with the most basic type of hobby grade vehicle. But it did cement the idea for me that through a hobby, you can connect with someone in a way that is challenging to do otherwise.

In the last two years, I have gone from a hobby enthusiast to a person working in the hobby industry. The stark contrast has opened my eyes to my previously narrow vision and made me realize many things about R/c, both good and bad.

I’ve met amazing people and seen some bad apples. I’ve learned so much and been shown how little I really know. My abilities have been pushed to their limits and I have been fortunate enough to show others theirs. I have lived a dream and awoken to find myself deeply rooted in a hobby that seemed too far away to touch as a young person.

Through joy and pain, happiness and grief, I hold to one thought for everyone trying to explore their lives through R/c:

“It’s ok, we can fix it.”