hi.
myself and bikerdude are both learning with a skylark and have had our share of problems.
if your copter was new you did better than me. i bought a sec hand one from ebay and after 1 week of hell i found the balance bar was half the length it should be. today i received some 2mm carbon fibre rod and made my own. and i can now hover for a good 10 secs. so the state of the balance bar and paddles can make a lot of difference.
be brave.

rob.