Soloed on my fourth trip to the flying field. Didn't have a buddy box and the instructor was from the old school whereas he got the plane in the air, (Hangar 9 Easy Fly .40) and then he would trim it out and hand the Tx to me and "kind of" talk me through it.

On the fourth trip to the field I was practicing flying the pattern and just set it down and landed. I then turned the plane around and then took off again! That was my trial by fire. (My knees were shaking and I didn't breathe for nearly twelve minutes but I did it!)

I was plagued by an unreliable engine during my "training period" so I even got good at the dead-stick! I was better at dead-sticking than I was under power!

I'm too darn cheap to spring the $$$ for a simulator. Keep thinking about it though. Anyone wanna ' sell one cheap?

My advice to a beginner is to buddy up with a good instructor and don't give up. Oh yeah, don't forget to breathe either!