My first trainer I totaled by flying through the trees! It kept going right. I was trying to trim it out. I kept straightening it out, then trim. The last time I tryed to trim it some more it did a circle and a half. The second circle ended when it went through the trees. (Note to self: Fly the plane, trim at altitude!) I went to pick up the pieces. Engine and electronics in good shape. The wing was in pieces starting about 3 inches on either side of the fuselage. But the rubber bands held the center section on! I had the LHS order an ARF version of my trainer and put the recovered engine and electronics on it. All the other pieces are in boxes. Maybe someday I will use them to build a new trainer for my kids. But I am glad I got another trainer. I had soloed the week before, and did not have much solo stick time on it. Now I am still flying the replacement trainer everytime I go to the field. I have an Ultra Stick 40, which one of the club instructors maidened for me. He gave me the sticks and I could not believe the speed it was going! After that flight, I realized I am not ready to try flying it solo yet.

So my advice is to buy another trainer. If your engine and electronics are good, put them in an ARF trainer. Mine only cost $150. I am still wringing it out though. I am getting good at inverted flying with it. Now I just have to master inverted turns, etc. And it was good for the nerves to be able to fly this plane nice and slow. Also, I recently bought Real Flight G2 and use that for confidence building and finger training.

As for my Ultra Stick, it is still waiting for me.

Mike