How many times have you heard that phrase? It isn't easy to fly 3-D at most of the remote control (R/C) airfields out there today. You have to deal with people who have never seen 3-D, have never attempted 3-D, or just plain can't do 3-D. There seems to be an underlying hostility toward 3-D in general. Some people fear that you are flying out of control, some people feel nervous that you might hit them, and some people don't like that you are making an airplane do something they don't think it was meant to do. One thing is certain, however: 3-D is here to stay, and its current growth rate it is dominating the R/C world!

MISCONCEPTIONS
     A lot of the attitudes mentioned above come from a lack of knowledge. More than a few times, I have heard that all 3-D flying is done with gyros. This particular assumption always makes me laugh. I don't know if people say that to make 3-Ders mad, or simply because they can't conceive of being able to hover an airplane any other way. It is almost like 3-D is some sort of magic that they can't comprehend. 

     If 3-D is your thing, you have heard it all. As soon as you hit the air with your back to the peanut gallery, the comments start. "If you want to hover your plane here at MY field, get a helicopter!" “Airplanes  weren't meant to do that stuff, so why do you insist on flying that way?" "You'll never catch me doing that stuff!" "That thing looks like it's really hard to control. You make me nervous when you take that thing up." "When are you going to fly a REAL airplane again?" 

     Here is a story that Pro Bro cplant tells:
     "I was doing really slow harrier rolls around the field this summer, and this guy walks up behind me (I hate when they do that!) and says 'Can't that thing go faster? You know, like a normal plane?' So I eased it into a hover, held it for a second or so, punched the throttle . . . and listened to this guy inhale. The planes flying faster straight up (accelerating from a dead stop) than most forty-size sport planes do in level flight. At about four or five hundred feet, it was getting a bit small, so I kicked it over into a dive. I wound it up into a really nice low blender (I thought he was going to pass out from a lack of oxygen) and managed to hold it in a stationary inverted flat spin about 20 feet over the field. I haven't heard a word from that guy since!"

SWEEPING THE NATION
     I remember the first time I saw Jeff Williams catch an airplane from a hover. That was only three years ago, but things have grown fast in a short time. Things that once only guys like Quique Somenzini could do are now done routinely at fields everywhere. Maneuvers that you saw at the Tournament of Champions (TOC) are now being done in backyards. For me, that is the ultimate for this hobby. Flying 3-D allows people to get excited about something that they can actually do themselves. What was impossible a few years ago now seems possible to someone who has only owned two models. With the new range of foamy airplanes and brush less motors, they can actually afford to set up an airplane that will do anything that the great pilots of the world can do. 

     I’m lucky. The guys at my field seem to really enjoy seeing 3-D going on over the runway. It is nice to have just pulled something off you have never done before and have someone behind you say "Good job!" or "Wow!" I have already noticed, from the major shows I go to and reading threads online, that 3-D is much more widespread and accepted at fields across the country. There is still a lot of anti-3-D sentiment out there, but things are changing. The days of being made fun of at the field are numbered, and the fact is that 3-D is playing a vital role in keeping fields all across the country open by generating more interest in the hobby. Such flying will play a big role in keeping organizations like the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) growing. Most importantly, it will keep people excited about flying R/C. 

Oh, and one more thing: I have a helicopter.