<span style="font-size: x-small">My nicknamewas Crash. Without access to a buddy box, Itaught myself to fly. 20 crashes later, the only equipment not wrecked was the transmitter.
Now is a good time to chuckle.
After five years of makingfirewood by wrecking countless trainers, I bought a 1/6 scale Cessna 182 Skylane (Kyosho) figuringbigger was better and a nice high wing would be more stable. Following several successful flights including takeoff and landing, my success abruptly ended when a slow speed stall caused one wing to drop. Instead of nosing down to gain a bit of speed and balancing the wings (by adding abit of Aileron), I raced the engine to full throttle and gave it full up elevator. Those Skylanesperform a vivid corkscrew.Moments afterward, Irealized my mistake. Crossing that threshold cinched my desire to improve and to know how. My next planebecame an Ultrastick 60, which I still fly today - in fact, it is now my float plane. During one of my earlly flights with the Ultrastick, I deadstick landed from 1/4 mile out and managed to taxi right up to my spot on theflight line.

They don't refer to me as Crash anymore.

Hang in there - you have thresholds yet to cross. Once you gain the understanding of flight - particularily the notion that every action has an equal or opposite reaction - you'll soar like an eagle.

Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense&rdquo; - Sir Winston Churchill</span>