RE: How long was it before you crashed for the first time?
First plane was a Goldberg Eagle II with a Super Tigre 51. Plane flew great and I loved it. After a few solo flights, I had it up (still had not "soloed" without my instructor being there) and my instructor was there and I began to loose control of the plane (no response to stick movement). I told him this and he took the tx from me (plane was about 150 - 200 feet up, so no problem right?). About that time, wing came off. Yep, became a 5lb yard dart while the wing just ever so graciously trickled to the ground. Found the fuse no problem. All radio gear there and accounted for. Looked for the wing for an hour before we found it, no damage to the wing at all (except, lost the servo out of it). Now the wing servo was not in the fuse either, so where did it go? A mystery to this day! So, now I have a trashed fuse with a perfect wing... As fate would have it, my brother had crashed his Alpha 40 into a tree the week before ruining only the wing. So I gave my wing to my brother and low and behold, Goldberg married Hangar 9 and boy the honeymoon was great. My brother flew that thing for 3 months with that combination, no mods to the wing or his wing saddle! What happened to it you ask? Well, my dad got ahold of it and ran it into a sign, damaging the goldberg wing, so, my dad rebuilt it and it flew again, now it's in the hanger!!