| Aaron Valdes began flying radio controlled gliders when he was eight years old. He joined the AMA in 1984 at the age of nine. Since then he had pursued many different facets of the hobby. He has flown control line models, as well as power and even radio controlled cars. However, soaring has always been his passion. Aaron has been a member of the Torrey Pines Gulls Soaring Society since 1988, and began flying competition when he was 15. He quickly moved through the sportsman ranks, past expert and into the master category. Aaron won the club season championship in 1993 and 1994. In 1995 he earned a sponsorship from Futaba and won the Southern California Soaring Clubs (SC2) season championship. That same year, he won the unlimited class LSF/AMA nationals for the first time. In 1996 Aaron won the nationals again, after two days of exhaustive flying. He earned the first alternate slot on the US F3B team. "Radio control soaring has been a very exciting and rewarding hobby for me" says Aaron, "I would like to thank Futaba for all their support in my continuing endeavors". |
