I own a Scout and, so far, it is the only plane I have. It can truely take a beating. I have crashed it so many times and my piece of advice if you get it is...DON'T FLY IN A LOT OF WIND!!!! I have had 2 scouts in my life and the wind is what lost the first one. The firebird Commander I would say is much better for flight characteristics but if you want to get down the basics of flying then the scout is the way to go.