My Dad and his Planes

My Dad, Jack Johnston, has shared his love of aviation with me throughout his entire life. Some of my earliest memories were of sitting in front of the TV on bean bag chairs watching black and white WWII Air war documentaries. I can also remember going to various airshows as a kid with him. I am sure I was the only kid under the age of 10 that could identify a P-51 Mustang just by the sound of it's engine. Since then, I maintain my high level of interest in aviation, both past, present, and in model form. I got my pilots license back in College, earned an instrument rating back in 2001, but put the hobby on hold for "other things" when we moved to Florida. I have read several aviation history documentary's, and visited just about every "significant" aviation museum in the U.S. Somewhere in the middle, I picked up Radio Controlled Planes as another hobby.

MY DAD THE MODELER

I would put my dad's hundreds of models - both static and RC - up against anybodies. He has a keen attention to detail, and a steady hand with the paint brush. His collection is just unbelievable. His static airplanes are so lifelike, that form a period of time, he got into photography and was "recreating historic scenes" with the goal of trying to take a photo of his models that looked real. I can assure you - he got pretty close.

RC AIRPLANES

When I was in college, mom and I were trying to figure out what to get him for Christmas one year. We went in together and purchased an RC Trainer for him. Well, I bought the kit which was the cheapest part - mom did the rest! Since then, he has built, flown (and crashed) probably over 15 different planes. Along the way, he has won a few awards. Most importantly, he encouraged me to get into the hobby, which I have and love. It's a very rewarding hobby, both the building part and the flying part. My kids love to go to my local flying field, and I have made some really nice friends along the way. Pictured in the photo is his latest creation, a Waco Biplane. It's been successfully flown a few times this summer.

Take a look at some of his planes here. http://picasaweb.google.com/rjohnst3/DadSRCAirplanes02

Slideshow

Playin in the Street

I came home from work early tonight - it's "curriculum night" at school - parents only. I went last year so it was Belinda's turn. Jack Smith came over and we all went out to the front of the house to play games, ride bikes, sidewalk chalk - in the street.

Why don't you play in the yard Rob? Isn't that safer? NO. FIREANTS - hate them. I just can't seem to get rid of them. I even broadcast spread some really expensive stuff about a week ago and to my surprise, 3 new mounds popped up after TS Fay.

I have attached a short Video of Jack Smith testing the tensil strength of the rims on Antonio's bike.

reFlexions - Art Inspired by the Ford Flex Design

One of my biggest work projects over the past 3 months has been launching the all new Ford Flex. This is a completely new vehicle for Ford. It's classified as a 7 passenger Large Crossover. However, it's not your "typical" 7 passenger vehicle - this thing is COOL! It's got a distinctively boxy - low to the ground look that is different from any other 7 passenger vehicle on the road. One note - it's has class-leading 24 MPG fuel economy - very important to people these days.

I have had the opportunity to drive my Flex Marketing unit the past 3 months, and from my own experience, this is the best vehicle Ford has ever made. It handles like a car hooked to rails, it's got a really cool style, plenty of room on the inside with the ability to fold down the seats for utility purposes, and it's got some really cool technology like the next generation Navigation system and SYNC voice activated electronics system.

LAUNCHING THE FLEX - UN-CHARTED TERRITORY

Back in April, the Flex Brand team had a meeting with all the Regional Marketing Managers to talk about the "Flex Rules of Engagement" for the launch of this all new vehicle. The point being, we want to launch this vehicle as a completely new vehicle - and focus on all the technology, style, and features this vehicle has, without stereotyping the vehicle as a "minivan replacement" or an "SUV". So, this opens up the opportunity to do some really unique things to launch the vehicle

MIAMI FL - LAUNCH TARGET MARKET

Miami FL is one of those towns that sets trends. Trends in music, art, clothing design, nightlife, etc. PERFECT PLACE to launch the Flex. My job, working with the Brand Team, is to help Flex earn the respect of the "who's who" crowd in this upscale market, and make this vehicle relevent. If the 18-35 demographic falls in love with this vehicle, blogs about it, talks about it, creates that all important marketing buzz, then the 35-48 crowd who can afford it - and needs the 7 seats, will buy it!

reFlexions - Art & Design Inspired by Flex

The Brand Team from Detroit held a few initial launch events that were fantastic! These events really engaged the media and subsequently, we have had many positive articles written about the Flex. I challenged our advertising agency in South FL to come up with a local event that would build upon the Brand Teams work. They put together a fantastic event called reFlexions. They commissioned 5 artists to do a piece of art that was inspired by the design of the Flex. Their work was featured at a very exclusive event held in the Miami Design District. PLUM TV did a 3 minute feature on the event, which will be aired on their network in Miami for the next 3 weeks. Here is a link to the event - you may recognize someone who they mistakenly named "Rod". Funny - http://www.plumtv.com/video_player.php?video=miami_beach/09256_mb_ad_fordflex_08.flv

Fay's Gone - Airplane Time!

The Rain has stopped. Time to play. Saturday, I did some yard work and a few other "chores". I decided to "treat" myself Sunday morning to some RC Flying timer. I got up early and took my Hanger 9 "Twist" to the flying field for some fun. It's been about 2 months since I have flown my RC planes. Always an adventure when you are "rusty". It was a very nice Florida morning. Hot, but calm winds and sunshine filled skys. I ran into some of my flying buddies I haven't seen in awhile - Ray, Ellis, and Nabil. I flew the Twist 3 times - and drank 4 cups of coffee - time for Church!

I met Belinda at Church at 10:30AM - yes, she had to load all 4 in the car while I was out playing around - oh well, tables will be turned soon!

More Chores

The afternoon was spent mowing the lawn and swimming in the pool. Not a bad day off!

Tropical Storm Fay - Still here

Florida is such a wonderful place to live "weatherwise" most of the year. It's dry and sunny most of the winter, and the summer weather is very predictable. It's sunny in the morning, it clouds up in the afternoon, it rains late in the afternoon, and then clears up in the early evening. We rarely have a weather system that moves in and stays for several days....enter Tropical Storm Fay!!

DAY 1

I flew up to Detroit on Monday for meetings and TS Fay arrived off the southwest coast of Florida the next morning. It slowly made it's way up the center of the state towards Orlando. I got to ride the big bird back into Orlando right as the storm was moving into the area. NOT A FUN RIDE. The plane was all over the place. The pros up front got us on the ground safely though.

DAY 2 & 3

The storm made it's way over to the east coast and stalled out just off the coast of Florida on Wednesday. It was originally expected to make it's way up the coast before making landfall up by Jacksonville. Well, that was a mis. It's came back west just to the North of Daytona, which is only 35 minutes from our house, and started it's slow 2MPH trac across the state. Luckily, I got to drive to Ft Lauderdale Thursday for meetings and stay dry down there. However, at home my county received the highest rainfall totals for the day - last I heard was over 20 inches. No complaints from me - we needed the rain. The lake behind our house has been way down from recent years - the water table in central Florida is very low. I think once some of the flash flooding mess is cleared up, it's going to be seen as a blessing.

Weekend

Hopefully, the outer bands of TS Fay will be gone by Saturday. The kids are going nuts - they want to be outside (and we want them to be outside).

Diego the Tennis Player

Diego attended the Sanford free tennis clinic this past Saturday. Diego has taken tennis lessons in the past and also played in a league this past spring. Diego has the athletic gift. He seems to be naturally talented with sports. He has very good hand eye coordination and tends to pick up new sports quickly. He is only 9, and he has played Basketball, Baseball, Soccer, Tennis, and golf. He will be playing Flag Football this fall. I am very proud of his ability and also very happy that he enjoys an active lifestyle.

Antonio the Climber

This past Saturday, we went to a park in Sanford FL that has a free tennis clinic for kids. It's a really nice program coordinated by some very special volunteers. While Diego was playing tennis, Brianna, Antonio, Marco and myself went to the playground. Antonio was eager to show off his climbing skills for my new Flip Video player. Antonio isn't the strongest little boy, but, he is very light and "scrappy". He likes climbing anything he can.