OK Mike, that's not fair.

The truncated version of the "Duraplane Incident" is as follows:

The members of the club cinvinced me to go get a proper trainer. They told me to go get the Wright Flyer .40 from the local shop, which happened to be on sale at the time. Of course, being a rookie (and WAY smarter them them) I surfed the net and found this Duraplane trainer, which claimed to be a great trainer, as well as durable. (IMHO please don't fall for that load of crap. It was definately durable, but flys just slightly better than a brick).

I bought it, built it, and took it to work to show the guys. They talked me into showing them that I could start it, then they wanted me to taxi it around the parking lot a bit. With that out of the way, one guy (Fred) urged me to "see if you can get the wheels off the ground . . . just an inch or two"

I lined up at one end of the lot and gave it some throttle. . . . . .going . . . . .going . . .full throttle. . . faster . .faster . .but is wasn't lifting off like I expected. I figured I must need to give it some elevator, so my rookie thumb yanked full up elevator.

The next five seconds seemed to last 5 miuntes. My beautiful new plane LEAPED into the air. My vision narrowed, and all I could see was a spot of orange (the Duraplane) surrounded by Lexus, Mercedes, Jaguar (my bosses NEW Jag) Porsche, Cadillac, BMW. . . .then a glass fronted building appeared . . . WHAM!!!!

The plane hit at an angle. Thankfully it wasn't trimmed out and hit at such an angle that the wing tip, propeller, and main gear all contacted simultaniously. I saw the window bow inward, and the plane slid down the side of the building like Wile E. Coyote sliding in slow motion down the side of a cliff.

That was about all it took to convince me that I wasn't nearly as talented or qualified as I thought. I joined the club, learned the proper way, and now I get to teach newbies the right way.

Beginner: take our advice and do it right. It'll be cheaper, and you'll enjoy t more.