Trying to find an rc airplane manufacturing news blog in Spanish? If so, chances are you could find it at at ThirtyThousandFeet.com.  I caught up with Max Flight, the Creator of ThirtyThousandFeet.com and co-host of the Airplane Geeks Podcast for a conversation about airplanes, the history of the internet, and how he’s viewed and categorized 15,000 aviation websites over the last 13 years.

RecreationAviation: What’s your background in aviation?

Max Flight: I’ve been in the aircraft engine business for over 30 years and I’ve been lucky enough to have flown all over the world. I love airlines and airports and traveling to other countries.  There’s so much to see and do out there in the world.

ThirtyThousandFeet.com is one of the best resources for discovering new RC and general aviation sites online. We use it all the time to find new sites. What encouraged you to get this aviation resource started and what challenges did you face putting it all together?

In the early days of the World Wide Web, it was hard to find aviation websites. I was building my own collection of favorites and finally decided to “publish” my list as a web page that would be helpful to others.  I had to teach myself HTML, then I had to spend a lot of time finding sites.  In the beginning that was hard, and so was keeping the links valid. People didn’t usually have their own domain name back then, but as that became easier to do and the links changed, it was hard to keep up with it all.

When did you get started with ThirtyThousandFeet.com?

I started the website back in the early days of the Internet - 1996.  At first it all fit on one page, but as I added links I soon had to split it up into sections. It just grew and grew!

Of all the informational RC aviation sites you have listed, do you have one or two reccomendations for us?

I like Marston PteroWorks (http://www.pteroworks.com/) because the designs are so intriguing. I think that should inspire others to be creative with their own designs.  I like the philosophy behind Hip Pocket Aeronautics (http://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/) that encourages people to build their own planes because you learn more than you do if you go RTF.  The Shay RC site (http://www.shay-rc.com/) has a pretty large RC plane photo gallery, and RC Down Under (http://www.rcdownunder.com/) helps show us that this is an international hobby and we should look pretty widely for help and community.

You have a number regularly updated of niche aviation blogs on your website. What audience does each blog cater to?

The number of RC blogs I have listed really understates what’s out there. They’re all different but the ones that have staying power and real appeal to me are ones that have regular posts, have valuable or at least interesting content in each post, and offer some sense of community - usually by way of lots of comments by readers. I have trouble finding good RC blogs and I’d invite people to send me their favorites so I can build up that section of the directory.


Do you know how many aviation websites you have listed so far?

I’d estimate about 15,000. It’s hard to imagine that I’ve looked at 15,000 websites!

Do you have anything else you’d like to add or plug?

If you’re interested in aviation you can follow me on Twitter where I’m @MaxFlight. Also, I co-host the weekly Airplane Geeks Podcast at www.AirplaneGeeks.com. Podcasting is a fascinating way to get people engaged in an activity they are passionate about. I highly recommend it for anyone considering expanding beyond their web page or blog.

If you’d like to learn more about ThirtyThousandFeet.com, log on to their website. You can also email Max Flight direct at maxflight.30000feet@gmail.com.