Matt Botos Enjoys Flying RC Helicopters As A Hobby And For A Living

Matt Botos’ hobby of piloting remote-controlled airplanes and helicopters, which morphed into a career, has now won him a measure of fame, as he was featured in the March issue of RC Heli Magazine.

Botos — a 1991 graduate of Keystone High School — began flying remote control airplanes with his father, David Botos, when he was a teen, and about nine years ago, he veered to flying remote control helicopters.

“At the time, I had a dirt bike that I used too daringly for my parents’ liking, so we sold it,” Botos said.

Botos’ parents told him he could spend the money from the bike on whatever he wanted, and he chose a remote control airplane.

“The model was a Great Planes PT40, which I assembled from a kit. My father wanted to help, but being a stubborn child, I refused and insisted I do it on my own,” Botos said. “My first airplane, I spent weeks assembling. After it was complete and deemed air worthy, my father and I drove over to our instructor’s flying field on Neff Road. After a few hours of instruction, I started to get the hang of flying the airplane.

“He decided that he wanted to try his hand at flying, so I gave him the transmitter and he began flying very erratically, diving at the ground, then pulling up very violently. After a few minutes of this torture, the wings ripped off the airplane and the model dove into the corn field. I don’t think he has ever touched another remote controlled aircraft since.”

During his high school years, he put flying on the back burner. It wasn’t until several years ago that he returned to the hobby with an interest in flying remote-controlled helicopters.

After college, Botos spent nine years working at Earthlink in various information technology positions, and it was there that his career began merging with his hobby.

“At the time, I had only been flying helicopters for three years and started to see manufacturers approach me with support offers to promote and fly their helicopters,” he said.

Botos said he soon realized that he could turn his hobby into a career.

He began traveling on weekends to events where fellow remote control airplanes/helicopter “pilots” gathered to offer guidance to new pilots and perform flight demonstrations. Botos began picking up more sponsors and realized that if he kept working hard at this hobby, he could potentially make a living flying the models.

In 2006, he was at the eXtreme Flight Championships, at remote-controlled flying contest at which pilots fly two to three times aday. Each flight is judged on the precision of predefined maneuvers, a freestyle round in which pilots show feats of originality near the ground and a freestyle flight choreographed to music.

At the 2006 contest, Botos placed fourth out of 20 pilots, and after that, he began flying model helicopters for Synergy R/C. That gig that sent him to Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Brazil and locations within the United States to promote their helicopter.

In 2007, Botos was working for both Earthlink and Synergy R/C. But in September 2007, Earthlink was downsizing and Botos was laid off, leading him to a full-time job with Synergy R/C Hong Kong.

These days, Botos works from his home in Kennesaw, Ga., spending four to five hours per day on CAD design, two to three hours flying/testing and two to three hours on maintenance.

“The corporate days were much shorter but way more stressful, and I love what I am doing, so the days generally fly by,” Botos said.

Watch this video of Matt Botos flying an RC helicopter: