November, '05: Well, we finally finished the move into the new shop, so I thought I would put some pics up. While we still have all of the lighting to install, a bit of organizing, and other misc. goo remaining, it is getting there. Harris built this house and two others on this lot some 20 years ago, amidst 13 acres of avocado groves, and has remained friends with the owners since. Recently, the owners very graciously offered the use of one of their garages as a new home for NCFM, which we, of course, happily accepted! We feel very blessed to have use of such an amazing environment to keep the creative juices flowing. We promptly christened it with a modest new table saw, a shopvac, with a vacuum forming table in the works (i.e. upcoming, quality fairings!). Bungee launches from the driveway are likely soon, as well!

Who We Are...

NCFM began in 2001, created by two longtime friends, Derek Choice (typing this) and Harris Nelson.

On a personal level, we are both RC zealots with a great appreciation for the beauty of efficient, silent flight. Harris, the designer of our aircraft, scratch built his first "freeflight" while still in grade school (1940's), and has been immersed in the aerodynamic realm ever since. I dove headfirst into R/C in the early 1980's, as an intermittent, peaceful escape from the seedy, shark infested world of recording and performing music; (I am often amazed at the volume of R/C flyers who are also involved in music, in one form or another... must be a "freedom of spirit" thing :)? In 1990, I immediately introduced myself to Harris at our local Carlsbad slope, after the speed vortex from his stealthy looking "plane du jour" nearly knocked my "whatever it was" out of the sky; have learned something from him every day, since.

As NCFM, we, go through extreme measures to produce very good quality kits: we weight-match our balsa elevons to within a few grams, our basswood drag spars / balsa elevons are all pre-checked for straightness, our foam cores are precision cut and cleaned, with no slag, no wire lag, no chatter, no excessive melt-out, etc... we really feel that they are among the best possible cuts that EPP allows. All of our aircraft are designed for maximum performance, efficiency and versatility. Since we continually try to keep pushing the limits of innovation and/or uniqueness, intermediate or above building skill levels are needed, since new (or old and almost forgotten) building techniques are routinely implemented.

We are located in the northern portion of San Diego County, usually referred to as "North County". Since about every county in the world has a northern portion, we, initially, thought it would be fun to leave it sort of ambiguous by just being "North County Flying Machines". Well, given the subsequent, immense caloric strain of typing http://www.northcountyflyingmachines.com and flight@northcountyflyingmachines.com, had we to do it over again... ahem. Unfortunately, "NCFM.com" and "flyingmachines.com" were already taken; Oh well. :)

Now that we have been around for a few years, I really want to extend the warmest thanks possible to everyone that has helped to keep us alive! While it is often that we just barely break even, there have been many people who have taken the time to email us with pictures and descriptions of their great maiden flights and how happy they are with their new bird... that is a reward beyond description! It is the real reason we are doing this and what we are all about.

If you've made it this far, many thanks for reading and hope to see you on the slopes!

Derek Choice, NCFM
North County, Earth