Flight and Andre Germain

My passion for flight got me into radio controlled airplanes, a pilot's license and employment at a prestigious company; I can't complain!

I've been at play since '89 at the most successful flight simulator manufacturer in the world, CAE inc, in Montreal, Quebec. It really isn't work, but lots of playing around with hardware, software and big expensive toys. It would not have been so if not for the help of Gilles Primeau. We had met when he heard of my RPV project through a colleague of his, also a member of my club, WIMAC. My CV he pushed at CAE landed me a job.

Model airplanes were a lot of fun for some 20 years; Michael and I mostly built from scratch aircraft carrier airplanes [F9F, F4, F14, A7...]; tail hooks for arresting, wing mounted explosive rockets, countless flat spins (some into ground), flew empty 1 gallon nitro gas cans on the back of a 707, then a 12 inch plastic horse, cameras, video transmitters, you name it. Eventually the messy oil in the nitro-methane fuel mixture not only compromised the balsa wood, but our spirit; We quit for good. Electrics drew us back!

I miss tossing a Cessna about the sky; everything is so real, cranking the engine, dash and fuselage shudder as it comes to life, welcomed prop blast kicks up the hinged windows on a hot summer day. It's been a long time, perhaps I'll return.