RE: learning without an instructor
Here is another way of looking at it, if it was too, easy and you could learn it in one day, a guy could get bored pretty quick of this hobby. I learn every time I fly!!! thats why I love this hobby, because the rewards are wonderful. Some of my students get discouraged from time to time and say they arent learning fast enough, we all learn at different speeds. I taught a friend of mine to fly in one weekend, fully and safely soloed. Another friend of mine, I taught for 6 months and I never felt he was fully able to solo, although he went off to crash many an airplane, might have been my methods, might have been him, dont know... point is , stay with it guys!!! the rewards of a good flight are well worth the work.