I have been flying RC for 38 years and in that time I have maidened all of my planes but two. I was shaking like a leaf in a strong wind with everyone of those flights but then I am by nature a nervous flyer. If I try to relax I loose focus and then the trouble begins. Over that time period I have lost maybe four planes on the maiden flights; the last one in 1993. It was a kit built P-40 Warhawk that always nosed over on the takeoff run. Instead of taking it back to the shop and fixing the landing gear position, I horsed it off the ground and, of course, it tip stalled and went in. That was just plain dumb on my part[:@].

Bruce