Self taught???
Geeze..... pretty dangerous way to learn...and expensive, no?
Small steps, thats what ya gotta remember.
If you are freaking out and dumb-thumbing the controls when it unexpectidly "jumped" into the air......are you really ready for CONTROLLING it when it really takes off for the first time???
And when it funally is time to land it, you are gonna be crapping in your aussie shorts.
Flying is not hard. Getting the plane to go where you intend it to go is hard. or didn't intend to.
Stay calm, visualize the plane and the control inputs you are making.... I have flown in my head thousands of times, i deam figure eight patterns, and the control inputs to make them happen.
my advice? Fly some of those cool simulators that are FREE on the web, and practice until you can fly those things EVERY time without balling it up.
Look for some of the FLIGHT INSTRUCTION web pages... i know once i saw 1st US Flight School's web page with instrutional pages to print out.
Small steps, don't bein such a hurry to ball it up.
Check out my craches in the crash forum "Tiger Trainer 60 crash-o"
Good luck - post pictures if you can
Steve-o