It has been my experience that some of the aerobatic designs have a tendency to stall unexpectedly. Like warbirds, they need to be flown to the ground with just a tad of throttle maintained. As for asphalt runways, I avoid them whenever possible. I find them noisy and hot and they are tiring to stand on. I'm sure looking forward to getting a test flight in on the Decathlon I have. It has always been my practice to take a new plane up about 3-4 mistakes high and slowly reduce throttle while equally slowly applying up elevator to bring on a stall and that gives me an indication of what to expect when attempting to land. Some R/C pilots have the impression that the Decathlon, being a high wing design fly like the high wing trainers they see and I think this is where some folks go wrong, they are a more aerobatic style and need to be flown accordingly. About 15 years ago I had a scratch built, scale P-51 that I spent a number of years building and that plane caused many mixed emotions. It was a genuine pleasure to fly as it flew like it was on rails but takeoffs and landing really made my butt pucker. I ended up selling it to a fellow who was warbird crazy and wouldn't even consider owning any other type. He managed 3 flights on it before taking the pieces home in a garbage bag. Anyway, weather is supposed to warm up next week so maybe I'll get a chance to see what I have with the Decathlon. I'll post my impressions when that happens.