About 8 months after I learned to fly I picked up a 1/4 scale Lanier Extra 300. I picked it up when I helped a flying buddy out of a computer nightmare with some new hardware (hey, I own a computer shop so that part was easy), instead of cash he gave me the plane. I loved flying it, but I got it way too early because my skills weren't ready for it yet. I never flew it, it flew me every flight. I was so afraid when I was flying that I would come away from the flight line with an upset stomach. When it died (not from pilot error. Hardware failure caused a full power knife edge into the ground. ugly ugly ugly crash) I was a total basket case. It upset me so much that I considered getting out of the hobby. In hindsight I was actually happy that it crashed because I didn't have to worry about it every time I was in the air.

I can better afford bigger planes now, but that doesn't mean that I want to see them hit the ground. Heck, for the cost of just one of those "Big Boys" I can buy a whole fleet of 40 size planes. I'm not trying to stir up an argument here over "big vs. small planes" (although I'm sure we're gonna hear both sides of the discussion now that the can has been opened), but I'm just saying how I think.

Just my 2¢ worth.

Ken