Sean McEntee = I Am the AMA

[Joe Ed Pederson]

I was very pleased to find that in the back of the November 2024 issue of Model Aviation the "I Am the AMA" article featured Sean McEntee.

Congratulations to Sean and his father Dan. 

If you didn't know, Sean is a veteran who flies Free Flight and Control Line Stunt.

If you don't know Sean be sure and read the article, and even if you do know him, you will enjoy reading it.

Joe Ed,
Cuba, Missouri

[john e. holliday]

I knew Sean when he was a youngster.  Hard to believe it has been that many years.

[Rusty]

Nice story.  Congratulations on the recognition and retirement.  Did Sean finish his college studies? 

[Dan McEntee]

Nice story.  Congratulations on the recognition and retirement.  Did Sean finish his college studies?

     I FINALLY GOT MY COPY!!!!! Thanks for noticing my kid!! And thanks to Steve Helmick also for the notice.  He's working on the last parts of his degrees. I have trouble keeping track of that kind of stuff. I just know that he's working hard on that and taking care of my grand daughter as best he can and doing an outstanding job at it.. As he says in the article, he has gotten a lifetime of support and encouragement from all of you out there and I appreciate that more than I can say. Lots of memories along the way, like the pizza party by the pool at the Roadway Inn in Tucson at the 1997 VSC with Bob Hunt, Bill Werwage, Ted and Shareen Fancher, Jim and Lila Lee, and I know I'm forgetting somebody else. There was a great view of the Comet Halle-Bopp and Sean was selling looks through our binoculars for 25 cents a shot!!  That helped with gas on the way home that year!!

   The story behind the photo is that he was attached to the First Cavalry Division for that deployment and was flying missions over Iraq from a base in Kuwait. This was during the later part of the year and he knew he was going to be there for the annual Ring-A-Thon that October, so he had a Brodak electric Ringmaster ARF shipped to himself over there, ( no alcohol fuel in a Muslim country ) and took the batteries he needed with him on the airline flight over there. He was a little nervous about that part, so he consulted with Paul Walker on how to pull that off. He had his story straight in his mind and had it rehearsed, and then got a bit lucky when going through boarding and the authorities were more concerned with the guy in front of him and his lap top computer case, and they just waved him by!! He got his flights in on the paved parade ground there on base. it was paved because grass don't grow well in 120 degree heat!! He had to go out at O-dark thirty to get ready because it was already 110 to 115 degrees by that time!! He was just going to leave the airplane behind but I talked him into carefully cutting it apart to pack it to ship home with his personal gear when the deployment ended. After all, it was now a veteran just like he was!! I think he buried the batteries out in the desert somewhere!!

  Thanks again!!
  Dan McEntee

[Sean McEntee]

Thanks folks.  I was bamboozled into that a bit.  Dad and I were at the AMA museum, late on one of the days we were there visiting during the Nat's, and I was talking to Mike Smith about electrics, and I regaled the Kuwait story and showed him that picture.  He coyly asked me for a copy and, no sooner am I back in Colorado, Jay Smith (lots of Smiths in the AMA) called for the interview.  Figured it was a good opportunity to plug the FF club and publicly embarrass the old man a bit

Nice story.  Congratulations on the recognition and retirement.  Did Sean finish his college studies?

Hey Rusty!  It's a regular 3-ring circus here.  I'm on the home stretch for my BSW, which should wrap up in May, then another year of graduate school for my MSW, as well as additional trauma (mental and emotional type) training courses.  I'm doing my undergraduate practicum as a respite provider with Pikes Peak Respite service, whose primary clients are kids with lower-function autism.  All of my clients are teenage boys between ages 11-15, and I'm trying to rope them into indoor FF, which is great for kids with ASD since indoor FF is a mostly predictable environment.  99% chance we won't be building any F1D models but one never knows.  After school, there are opportunities abound.  I could work for the VA or the Department of the Army as a mental health provider, I could keep working for PPRS and do supervised clinicals until I complete my licensure.  One of my Army medic buddies wants to get out, move back here and has an idea of starting a "holistic care facility" for veterans which focuses on both physical health (which means gym and working out; never seen the interest in picking up heavy stuff if I'm just going to put it back down in the same spot), but also mental health services; a kind of one-stop shop if you will.  Never gave a thought of having my own practice before, but that interests me.

Trying to find time between school assignments to build an indoor fleet for next year's Indoor Nat's, as it will be at Johnson City, TN on Memorial Day weekend, and between semesters which will be convenient for me.  I'm also getting nudged towards the outdoor FF Nat's, which will be evaluated in the spring to determine the impact on my summer semester. There were plans to start flying rubber and electric power next year, but we had a death in the club here, and among a bunch of stuff of his that I inherited was all of his towline models.  I got his built models: including a Top Kick and Ambroid Jetstream A-1 gliders, a Jetco Talon II that needs recovering, and what seems to be a late 90's or early 2000s F1A model of some flavor.  I've never flown towline a day in my life, but we're sure gonna start next spring!

Then there's the child...

I got her a debit card and an app on her iPad called Greenlight.  It's an app-based checking/savings account for kids. Tons of education features for all sorts of financial stuff.  At 10, she knows the difference between a debit card and a credit card...which really sucks when she wants something but doesn't have enough money, so she looks at me with puppy-dog eyes and asks for my credit card .  There's also a chores list that she can mark off when completed (she's been trying to do her laundry every day for a daily payout instead of weekly.  Gotta give points for trying), a system that teaches investing, which she invests money into a mock investment account, and the "interest" is pulled from my own account, so she can watch her money grow...from her perspective at leasts.  We're also going to start "taxing" her allowance.  I've seen way too many TikTok video's of teenies going full Chernobyl after getting their first taste of the extortion scheme that is income tax, so we're going to introduce her to that fun fact of life in the near future.  The "tax revenue" will ultimately go back to her in the form of something that I haven't flushed out yet.  She's also a big-time 5th grader this year and this is her last year of Elementry.  I've been escorting her to Peterson SFB to do some pretty neat STEM projects including 3D printing, computer coding and CAD (so if anyone needs plans drawn up, I know someone that takes stuffed unicorns as payment).  No flying stuff in any of those field trips...lame.  But she does come with me to contests; hasn't got the spark to fly regularly yet but everyone enjoys her company for the most part.  A family from Georgia (Joshua Finn) comes up here for our Labor Day contest, and everyone enjoys watching her give their two boys the business...the McEntee wit and charm is coming in nicely!

[Rusty]

I commend you on taking care of your daughter.   My son is in the same situation.   I am his caretaker full time as his mother got paralyzed from back surgery.   He was interested in modeling.  He tried control line and flew a few laps and got dizzy and won't do it anymore.  He was able to learn to fly rc and soloed with a great planes PT40.  After that his health deteriorated which caused him to lose a bunch of things he liked to do, like swimming, riding a bike, flying, etc.   

I got my AS and BS degrees in the Army at Fort Benning from Troy State University. 

Enjoy your success.   You earned it.  It wasn't given to you.  Pride is something people who have jobs, degrees and possessions given to them will never know.

Rusty