I finally made the big move and soloed a very tough bird today. I originaly had intended to solo a Hobbyzone Champ but that got side tracked when an inoperable Champ arrived. It went back for rework and our beautifull fall weather disappeared also.So today with a perfecly still and sunny day as the first day of November it was probably the last chance to fly.

I already had my second plane, a Flyzone SkyFly max 4 channel, ready to go. So this afternoon I prepped it for flight and took it out to the field behin our house - a little less than 3 acres but sort of rough surrounded by wetlands (swamp) to the east and a few acres of apple trees on the south. All this is bordered on the west with mature trees and buildings. Becuase the wind was nonexistent I planned to take off south towards the largest open area and make my landing approach from the opposite direction.

The takeoff was uneventfull and the SkyFly rose quick anf fast. I circled the field for about 5 minutes and was having a ball! My turns were not smooth and the plane is very responsive to the alierons, but I was happy with how well the first flight was going. I decided to make a slow pass to practice getting to my landing area and this would require a climbing right turn.

I had noticed on the many hours of work on the RF5 sim that right turns were not my best suit and sometimes when the plane is moving across from left to right in front of me I sometimes moved the stick the wrong way at first. I don't no why or understand it as I had very little trouble when the plane is coming toward me.

Well today it was one of those moments of confusion. I started the climbing right turn and discovered I was headed staright at a 50' high Cedar tree and the moment of confusion caused me to collide with the tree about 2/3 rds the way up. I heard a loud crack and was sure my new SkyFly didnot make it though Its warranty period. One wing half landed 12 feet out in the swamp on a clump of grass - gotta have some luck. The other wing half was burried deep in the Cedar branches about 30 feet up and the fuse was hanging upside down on the opposite side and just as high.

After extracting the parts from on the ground and the tree examined them and discovered there really was not a lot of damage. The wing retainer snapped in two, a wheel retaine popped off the axle retainer and the prop was damaged. Tonight the plane is back together, rebalanced and ready to fly again.

My impression of the SkyFly max is it is a very tough airplane and flys well. So the rest of the newbies like myself should at least take a look at this as your 2nd plane. I really should have waited for my Champ to be returned, but I have no regrets I had loads of fun but am dissappointed I did not get to do a traditional landing. I am motivated even more now to learn to fly. I have been reading a lot of all the posts on questions on 'how to' and the excellent answers given by the experienced pilots. So thanks a lot for your help even though I most of the time was just 'evesdropping' on the discussion.

Roger