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Updated 08-08-09
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“Airplane Blaine” Austin
Blaine grew up on a farm
in a little town in Arkansas. He was fascinated with aircraft and flight at a
very early age. As a kid (and probably still today), he was particularly excited
by the crop dusters buzzing over his house and dodging trees while hugging the
ground so they could spray the fields.
Blaine has always been very competitive. He was a sports stand out in High
School and College earning All Conference and All American titles both in
Basketball and Track. In 1978, Blaine broke the World Record in the Pole Vault
for 14 year olds. Through out his career he has broken many National and State
records, and he still holds a few of them today.
In 1987, while training for the Olympic trials in the Decathlon, Blaine was
involved in a car accident in which he sustained a sports career ending injury.
While recovering, he attended a farm festival where he noticed a man named Jim
Key flying an RC Plane attempting to raise money for the voluntary Fire
Department. People were taking flying lessons on a trainer box for $5 for 5
minutes. Needing something to focus his energy on, Blaine gave it a try. $50
later, Blaine was hooked.
After building his first plane, he wanted to show his best friend Jeff Dean what
he had. To Blaine's amazement Jeff had also gotten into the hobby and had the
exact same plane. Blaine's interest area grew and between 1986 and 1991, he flew
just about every kind of plane you could imagine. Because of his job, he moved
around quite a bit and was forced to table the hobby until 1995. A job change
relocated him to Nashville, TN where he was reunited with his best friend Jeff
Dean again. Blaine’s friend Jeff had also gotten out of the hobby as well. They
both got back into the hobby and have been very active ever since.
Blaine has the reputation for 'pushing the envelope', so naturally he was drawn
to the Extreme style of flying. He got into the Extreme side of the flying in
1997.
In 2000, Blaine started the Extreme Aerobatic Club. This club promotes Extreme
flying events through out the country. Blaine now lives in Jonesboro, AR where
he is in his 18th year of flying. Blaine has flown at numerous Model Shows and
Full-Scale Airshows through out the world with such acts as the Blue Angles,
Thunderbirds, Red Barron Squadron, Matt Chapman and Kirby Chambliss just to name
a few.
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