MAAA Wingspan - Quarterly Magazine

14 Certified RPAS Chief instructor and fellow VARMSmember, David Hobby began flying full-sized gliders when he was just four-year-old. Impressively, he obtained his first solo with RC gliders when he was sixteen, then took on general aviation to complete his first solo when he was seventeen. “I had an advantage becausemy father was a gliding instructor, so we had access to gliders and it was a day-to- day thing that we did on a weekend,” he says. “As I grew older, I started to domore proficient training to get my solo license. You had to be a certain height to fly solo and as I was a fast grower, I was physically the right size by fifteen and had all the training required. However, I had to wait until I reached sixteen to actually go solo with full-size gliders. At that point I took up aeromodelling too.” As well as being a gliding instructor, David’s father worked as an Airforce engineer. David similarly entered aviation as a profession. From1995 until 2009 he worked for one of the early leaders in drone technology- the US-Australian robotic aircraft manufacturer, Aerosonde. In his role he conducted record-breaking UAV flights within extreme environmental conditions inmore than twenty countries. It was during this period that David took up electric- powered glider competitions and participated in six-world championships. He ultimately won fourth place in F5B (high performance electric-powered glider) and F5D (pylon racing with electric aircraft). In 2012, David decided to change gears and fly FAI class F3J competitively. He won his first two world championships, (held in Canada and Slovakia respectively), flying a Pike Superior. Likemany other avid pilots, it’s the challenge of the sport that is particularly appealing. “For F3J, it’s that ability to land within a very specific spot. For my latest competition we had a twenty-centimetre circle to get the nose of our aircraft into and within a quarter of a second of the end time in order to be competitive,” says David. “So, it’s extremely diverse in the skills that are required. You have to have extremely good timing, control of the aircraft and the ability to fly in thermals.” However, David acknowledges that due to themany distractions of model life, getting the younger generation interested and intomodel aviation can also be equally challenging. DRONE ENGINEER AND RC GLIDING CHAMPION, DAVID HOBBY TELLS US HOW HE’S SPENT A LIFE IN FLIGHT heritage story: a life in the skies