RE: How long was it before you crashed for the first time?
My very first airplane was Cox Sportavia. I loved that plane and bought it as soon as I had saved enough money to get it- took a long time and a lot of lawns.
long story short - Alone and unassisted- I started, hand launched and watched it roll right into the ground- A billion pieces of foam.
Then I got professional help- learning to fly that is....