About the author of Park-Zone-Airplanes

An aviation enthusiast from the beginning......

I was fortunate to grow up near a busy airport in Southern Oregon. My parent's house was about 1 mile (and aligned perfectly) with one of the busy runways at Klamath Falls International Airport.
While growing up, I watched all kinds of airplanes, airliners, helicopters, and even fighter jets from the Oregon National Air Guard take off and land. Home to a busy fighter pilot training school, the fighters are always buzzing around. This quickly drew me into the world of aviation. I have fond memories of riding my bicycle to the airport and looking through the airport hangers. One year I watched Air Force One bring former President Ronald Reagan in for a landing during a visit to our town.

At 14 I began taking flying lessons paying for them by mowing lawns. At 16 I soloed and I obtained my pilot's license by the time I was 18. Today I fly a Cessna 172 and Cessna 182 through my local flying club here in Eastern Oregon. I am blessed to still live close to aviation action. I have a busy helicopter pad used by the U.S. Forest Service in my backyard, and I am only a mile from Enterprise airport.

My First Model Airplane Experiences:

During my childhood I had a Cox model airplane that was controlled by line and it made you real dizzy to fly it. You had to spin around and around while you could control altitude only. I also had a foam R/C glider with rudder only control that I crashed on the first flight. (The wind was blowing around 30mph but I couldn't wait any longer to fly it so I did it anyway).

I always wanted to fly radio control airplanes but the fact that you had to build them and the high prices kept me away from the hobby until one day........

A few years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Hobby Zone Airplanes. He had also wanted to get involved in this great hobby so we each purchased a Hobby Zone Firebird IIST and flew them together for the first time the next morning. After flying Hobby Zone planes for a while, the Park Zone line of R/C planes was introduced, and I began flying them right away. To date I have flown all of the Park Zone planes.

Today my personal favorite is the Park Zone Typhoon 2, and the F27C Stryker. I regularly fly both. It is my hope that this website will help bring more pilots into this rewarding hobby, and I hope this site will provide you with answers to all of your questions about Park Zone planes.

Let's go flying......

Matt Cross
Park-Zone-Airplanes.com