Today (27 June), I am turning off the Volare Products store for two important reasons:

1: July will be extremely busy for me; I will be attending the 2026 AMA Indoor Nats in Pontiac, MI as the FAC Manager (10-13 July), then I will be attending the 2026 FAC Nats in Geneseo, NY (14-19 July including travel days), and finally I will be attending the 2026 AMA Outdoor Nats in Muncie, IN (21-24 July). Turning off the store now will allow me to catch up on back orders and orders to be delivered to these various contests without coming home to a huge backlog of orders at the end of July.

2: Reason 2 has given me a lot more anxiety and worry than it should. Let me tell you a story; I'll try to keep it essentially brief.

Back in the dark ages (1984), before I knew the first thing about any type of model aviation, I met a girl, we got married, and she uprooted her life to move from Costa Rica to the United States. We have been through thick and thin and she has been wonderfully supportive of our path that has lead to 2026. We found good jobs and provided a stable home for our two sons; who are now grown into adulthood and living their own lives. I retired in 2016 and Patricia retired in 2025.

Somewhere around the beginning of this year, we had a conversation that has changed the course of our lives. This change will have ripples that extend all the way to all of you in some way. After my trips to all of the contests mentioned above, she and I will take a trip to Costa Rica in the beginning of August to close on a house. This house will be our main residence as we intend to move there by the end of the year.

A large change such as this will naturally cause a good deal of uncertainty and anxiety and cause us to question our sanity, but it has also caused me a huge amount of parallel anxiety and even guilt because I know that all of you have come to "depend" on Volare Products as one of the few Free Flight suppliers remaining. I know that I am breaking that implicit trust that there will always be suppliers. There are few enough and losing one is not good for the hobby, I know that and I take that to heart - and it is a heavy heart. I cannot provide any of the business service to the hobby from Costa Rica.

Here's the rest of the Volare Products story. I have not offered the business for sale. What I consider to be the heart of my business is my collection of over 150 Short Kits (and there are many more that I had intended to create). I am not yet ready to turn over that "intellectual property" to another. There "may" be a time when I can figure out how to make them available to the public in the future, whether by myself or via some partnership, so I will retain them. Everything else I offer can be available from other vendors. It is my plan to still be involved in the hobby. I intend to still work on research and designs and possibly provide new plans to various newsletters. At first, I still plan on attending Geneseo and Muncie every July, hopefully that will continue for years. I don't yet know how much I can build (testing will likely be nothing), but I have existing models that can be flown and repaired as needed.

As for the remainder of this flying season, I will be at the three National events in July and I will be at the FAC Outdoor Champs (Muncie) in September - including providing the Short Kits that accompany the registrations. I will have sales goods at Geneseo and maybe at Muncie. I have ceased restocking supplies and what I have is all that is available and when it runs out, you will have to find another source.

I want to say that it has been a pleasure being an intimate part of the Free Flight community, especially the Flying Aces Club. 99.5% of my interactions have been wonderful and the other 0.5% has been of the "head-scratcher" variety, not anything hostile or anything like that. I've truly enjoyed developing new products and kits and I have truly appreciated all of you as customers. I've never been one to look for praise, but you have provided it anyway. Thank you for everything.