As thrilling as actual flight was, it was the hobby that would ultimately change his life. Similar to John, Josh’s path to the runway started at a young age flying with his father in a single-engine two-seater and building model planes.

Josh and John know it’s part of the process of learning to fly: The rewards of a well-executed barrel roll and a perfect landing don’t mean quite as much without all of the wrecks it took to get there. In between the tips, tricks and spectacular crashes, viewers find that laughing when things go wrong is just as important to the hobby as celebrating when things go right. “Star Wars” spaceships, bomb-dropping Stukas and even an 18-foot foam board battleship are just the tip of the airborne iceberg. Nearly 2 million subscribers regularly tune in to catch the Flite Test Tech videos on builds of new models, or to see what whimsical project the crew is able to put into the sky. In addition to hosting flying events at Edgewater Airpark in Ohio and designing and selling RC planes and drones, the company has built a community around its YouTube channel. Since 2010, Flite Test has served as a global ambassador to the hobby of building and flying RC aircraft. John wanted to get into the model airplane business and called to get pricing on foam board company founder and president Josh Bixler had a different partnership in mind. John, his passion for designing and building airplanes renewed, reached out to the event’s organizer, Flite Test.

Three months later, both were still captivated by the hobby. Soon the duo found themselves caught up in the fever of building foam board radio-controlled (RC) planes with the other attendees. He and son, Jesse, attended Flite Fest in the small town of Minerva, Ohio with the intention of flying Jesse’s drone. John’s childhood dreams of designing and marketing aircraft finally took to the skies in 2018. “I always had kits in mind but never got it off the ground, so to speak.” “ ‘Top Gun’ had been out for a long time and I always loved F-14s,” John says of the paper airplane. It’s framed behind glass like any memento, a reminder that sky-high dreams often have humble origins and sometimes even come true. It’s detailed in pen and paint, fits in your palm and will fly about as far as the other side of the room.

In between the laser cutters and dozens of models lining John Overstreet’s shop in Fayette, you’ll find his first jet fighter.

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