I probably should't be talking here because I am a beginner, but this is my situation. I am a farmer and fly on my own land. I flew one time for about an hour on Realflight to get a basic feel for it. Then I put FMA Co-Pilot on my Alpha trainer and I've flown perhaps twenty-five flights successfully (albeit with some bounce on a few of the landings) and I'm over the hump now. I fly it hard and low and do crazy things with it and it's a lot of fun. I am now ready to turn the gain down on Co-Pilot a bit. I expect to crash it eventually but that no longer relates to to whether I started with an instructer (or not). What I'm saying is that you may want to get Co-Pilot, crank the gain to the max, and never look back. I understand the position of those that are adamant about instructers, but I believe that Co-Pilot reduces this element down to a time or two rather than some cumbersome drawn out formal affair. I hope I haven't offended any instructers here.

I can tell you this, without Co-Pilot, I would have had about seven balsa showers by now. That little jewel has really saved my bacon. Now to slowly reduce the dosage.