Everyone has given very good advice. I started flying last July and I have both the PZ Albatros and the S.E. 5a. I got the S.E. first and have more flight time on it. I had a friend look it over and maiden it before I flew it. My total experience at that time was with an Apprentice 15e (the older one without the SAFE technology) and a couple of 3-channel micro birds (Champ & Cub). Here's my experience with both biplanes.

If you fly from a grass strip be sure to pull the elevator into full "up" position before advancing the throttle. Then advance the throttle slowly. Failure to do these two things can result in the plane nosing over. Watch the nose and if it starts to dip back off the throttle and try again. Once the plane is rolling maintain the up elevator and use the rudder to control left/right direction. The plane will rise off the ground on its own. Be prepared for this to happen and ease off on the elevator to prevent a stall. I tried easing off on the elevator during the take off run so the tail could "fly" and discovered that hitting a clump of grass caused a nose over at almost flying speed. No real damage to the plane but it taught me a lesson. Now I keep the tail nailed down and watch for the first indication of the wheels leaving the ground before I ease off on the elevator. If you fly from a paved runway all of the above may be unnecessary. I don't know because I only have a grass strip available.

Both planes come with the option to put on a tail wheel or skid. I have the tail wheel on the S.E. 5a and the skid on the Albatros. I can't see any difference when flying from grass. If you fly from pavement the tail wheel is probably better because it is linked to the rudder and therefore steerable.

These planes not only look like WW-I biplanes, they also tend to fly like one. You really need to feed in some rudder to initiate a turn and then follow it with aileron or the plane will tend to wallow. I've never tried the mixing idea so I can't comment on that. My planes turn best when I feed in some rudder first. I learned to fly full scale in a Piper TriPacer that had the linked aileron/rudder. Frankly, it made me into a lazy pilot. My second plane was a 1939 Aeronca tail dragger. I learned to fly all over again and use the rudder.

Practice doing three-point landings. Again this applies mostly if you fly off grass. Landing on the mains may work fine on pavement. On grass the plane is likely to nose over.

One last thing to be aware of. Both my bipes came with two velcro straps to secure the battery in its compartment. This works fine in the S.E. because the compartment itself is closed at the rear and the battery really can't move. The Albatros is another story. The rear of the battery compartment is wide open and those two straps are not sufficient to keep the battery in place. I learned this the hard way. I didn't have a friend check out the plane before its maiden flight and my lack of experience showed. I "secured" the battery in place with the velcro straps, closed the hatch, and set the plane down for take off. I applied all the techniques the S.E. had taught me, tail nailed to the ground and very slow application of throttle. Everything went exactly as I expected until the wheels left the ground. At that point the plane went nose-high and no amount of down elevator would bring it to level flight. It was staggering along with its nose way up in the air and heading for a road that runs alongside the flying field. Of course, there was a car coming. I slowly backed off on the throttle and let the plane flop down. The impact broke the lower wing, one wing strut and the landing gear. I later discovered that one aileron servo was also broken. All in all, I was lucky. When I opened the compartment to disconnect the battery I discovered that it had slid aft completely out of the front velcro strap and was more than 2.5" aft of where it should have been. This created a tail heavy situation and made the plane impossible to control. So when you get your Albatros put some velcro on the battery and the compartment to make the thing stay put. Be smarter than I was.

I hope you like your Albatros. I have to say that both my biplanes attract attention when I fly them. Sometimes people will stop their cars at the side of that road I mentioned and get out to watch or take photos/videos of the planes in flight. That's usually my cue to do a few loops and rolls. I sometimes bring the plane closer to the road in a low level pass so they can see the pilot with his scarf waving in the breeze. Maybe my little air show will encourage someone to give RC flying a try. At the very least it is good PR for the hobby.

Have fun,
John