RE: Learning to Fly (self teaching)
When I am helping new people learn to fly, my main goal is to keep their plane from crashing. This is accomplished by keeping the plane 2 mistakes high when they are flying.
When it gets out of control, any good trainer will level itself out if you just let go of the sticks. But only if you are enough mistakes high that it can recover.
The crux of this being - "ALTITUDE IS YOUR FRIEND"