jbot, if you get that crazy sparrow, pls post your experiences with it. I'm also trying to learn on my own and the wingo is also my first plane. I've been to my local hobby store today where they have the crazy sparrow, but I've been told there that it would be too hard to fly without help from an instructor. It would be great to hear your experiences with it, if you buy it.
Judging on the hobby lobby clip it looks like a plane that behaves well and is quite stable, but any plane looks like that when someone advanced flies it
In the mean time I'm waiting for my gearbox for the wingo to arrive, I hope that will make some change. It's a great starter plane, the wingo!