Ah yes this was my problem too. After 1 year of flying my aerobird I had many flights, but only about 3 landings, one of which was just about acidental with a huge bounce. Well, in the past 1/2 year I found someone to help me fly, it was really helpful to throughly learn the basics. Since then I got a F-27 stryker and have had no serious crashes that were caused by my thumbs(some minor crashes and some very close pull outs). So therefore I would say the best thing to build confidence is to know you have support, and of course feeling that you have a plane capable of going where you point it. I must say that performance with the aerobird while reliable is not all it could be. So find someone to help you fly and you will be much more likely to suceed.

Of course some general tips for aerobird would include:

-unless your surfaces have no travel at all, never hold the stick over to one side for more than about 2 seconds(spin out will occur!)

-make sure your battery canopy is well secured(note my signature)

-if you are low and turning, especially towards you, just pull out! bashing the wingtips hurts.

-buy the 7cell hop-up battery, the stock charger is still capable of charging it.

Don't worry all that much about breaking the plane, wings and tails are affordable and easily repaired.