Basic aviation background hpefully equals a basic understanding of lift, drag, how control surfaces work, etc and would be relevent experience for RC flight if not 100% applicable techniques wise. How can a basic understanding of these ideas be bad for RC flight? My uncle is a FS pilot and flies FS regularly, but he is a disaster on the RC sticks. I'm of the Atari generation and the physical dexterity and mental demands of putting yourself "in" the plane come easy, but when I started I lacked the understanding of the physics involved.

Secondly, as Aeronaut said, if you fly you will crash. For many people, that ARF is basically a "black box" inside and when crashed they don't have a clue where to start repairs. If you have built several kits, at least you should have a basic understanding of how a typical airframe is assembled, allowing you to understand the damage and do some basic planning on what repairs might be needed.

Rog is right, don't jump the new guys cause they are new. Attitudes like that detract from the hobby rather than enhance it. If I posted in the beginner forums, I don't expect to be belittled because I'm new. [steps down from his soapbox]

Welcome to the hobby Todd. Hope you have fun.
Duke