RE: Your first crash? I want to hear about it...
Today - I hit a tree. I was doing circuits on my second flight forthe day and concentrating so hard on the aircraft across base, descending and turning final that I didn't see the tree. It hit about 5 meters above ground and fortunately at low speed. The total damage was the elevator and one side of the tail were broken and a couple of skin punctures under the wing. Total repair time has been about an hour and I should be flying again in a couple of days when the glue cures.
Those jet crashes in SA were pretty spectacular.