I, too, thought that the video was cute. However, I also felt that the experienced flyer in it was more condescending to the newbie than empathetic and helpful. She was approached by someone who was quite proud of his self-taught helicopter skills and also proud of his new "100mph jet" purchase. Unfortunately, it seems like she spent more time preaching doom and gloom and crushing the newbie's dreams instead of patiently explaining the 'hows and whys' of properly learning to fly r/c.

Unfortunately, this type of attitude is often prevalent in clubs. I can't count how many times I would visit a club with the intention of joining for flight instruction, camaraderie, etc; only to have my dreams trashed by the resident clique. It got so bad that I eventually resorted to teaching myself to fly. Did I go through a lot of planes? Absolutely! But their cost turned out to be easier to deal with (and more instructive) than the "advice" that I got from some of the "experts". Is this attitude prevalent in every club? Of course not! However, almost every club seems to have at least one jerk, and one is all it takes to send a newbie looking elsewhere!

Compounding the problem is that there are waaay too many manufacturers who claim that their "100mph jets" are perfect trainers! Therefore, I support the idea presented earlier in this thread about creating a sticky that would explain what features to look for in a potential trainer.

Harvey