Sorry, I should have expanded more. I only destroyed 2 before I learned I needed an INSTRUCTOR. It might have been 3. They were SPADs, so I sort of lost count. I got pretty good at building SPAD Debonairs, though. Once I got an instructor and buddy box, I soloed after about 3 sessions. To be fair, I actually first flew 20 years ago, using my brothers' Aeromaster bipe. Flew OK, but never really learned to land all that well.

The SPAD crashes were 2 years ago when I tried to relearn by teaching myself. I was trying to learn on skis on a frozen lake. When I had my final crash, I spun in to the ice and totalled it. When I went to retrieve the wreckage, I discovered I was only about 100 feet from someone's cabin on the other side of the lake. It was at this point that I realized: these things are fast, dangerous and they fly a long ways away. I need help.

Bottom line, I strongly recommend an instructor.

-Scott