Well... I have to add MY .02 here... I'm a beginner (again) who flew a tiny bit YEARS ago. I purchased the Nexstar because of the brakes, tip-stall devices (which I think are AWESOME), and the flight simulator.

I couldn't be happier, and EVERYONE who has seen it, and seen it fly, and see me take off and land it, has had nothing but compliments on it, and how nice it flys, and how good it looks, etc.

We cranked the AFS unit down to near nothing after a couple flights, but I'm going to experiment with it one day soon, just to see what it really can do for a beginner who makes a mistake.

Two instructors have said that it is possibly the easiest trainer they have ever flown and taught with. I was checked out and soloed in about one hour of flight time.

The OS .46fx engine is incredibly easy to start, and runs great. Has never stalled on me, and has started with ONE try every time INCLUDING the first time I tried to start it.

I HAVE built planes before, so I did some "fine tuning" of all the surfaces trim, etc BEFORE I brought it out, and we only had to do some VERY minor trim adjustments on the maiden flight.

My only complaint with it is the main landing gear, which I posted a message on how I made it sturdier, and that works much better now... (see the "landing gear on a nexstar" thread for pictures and description of what I did)

I have also found that because of the extra lift from the air brakes, you need to fly it with a bit of DOWN elevator trim... this causes you to have trouble taking off, because the nose gear has too much pressure on it while building up speed... the easy cure was to either hold a bit of up elevator on takeoff, or to just temporarily trim the elevator back to 'level' before taking off.

Oh... and the simulator... I practiced with it for about 20 hours during the winter months... crashed MANY times with it before getting good flying towards myself... it has been INCREDIBLY helpful. But I will say that takeoffs are MUCH different with a real plane... but the general flying practice with the simulator helps a BUNCH!

.02 from a Nexstar owner...