Hate to break the line of discussion on the kit quality, but I want to say that I vertical hand launched my Magic Extra yesterday. It has Saito 72 swinging APC 13x6, which will steadily accelerate it upwards w/o correction. The tricky part is the transition from ground to vertical and getting a hold of the transmitter once vertical. If it were a 2-person task, then it's not an issue. Doing it by myself is a little iffy, especially that I didn't have a neck strap for transmitter that day. I had to hold the plane vertically @ half throttle w/ just the right hand for about 5 second while the left hand fishes for the transmitter on the ground. The Magic Extra is not exactly "grab friendly" with its flimsy tall turtledeck. The mid-throttle vibration didn't help either, along with the oily exhaust residue. Anyway, I did it twice when no one was looking, and got quite nervous afterwards from the shaking right hand. But it was quite refreshing watching my plane go up from my hands full blast.