Cirduck,

I, too think that congrats are in order. I'll add my experience to it, and it should make you feel even more proud.

I come from a family that drives, flies, operates, controls, and invents all kinds of stuff. Two uncles still build and fly real airplanes from scratch, and they are in their late 70's. Up until now, I thought I had inherited that gene. I have never met a vehicle, toy, or machine that I can't operate quite well. It's part of my identity. I've competed at a local level in everything from skateboards and bikes to cars and boats. I've never caused a crash with any vehicle, never lost control. I've saved other people's lives from the mistakes they make on the road. I don't know why I never got into this hobby before, but on my 37th bday, wifey bought me a ParkZone cub. I didn't have anything to compare it to, or any experience whatsoever. I memorized the manual and took the bird out to a big open space. I did have the same issue with the rudder being off center. I used a small, long strip of tape attached to the side of the fuse to add enough pressure to align it. Worked well.

Maiden: I did great! Boy, it was faster than I thought it would be. Then, after my first perfect turn, with the thing pointing at me, I got my directions confused, panicked, and flew her into the ground, hard, from about 100 ft up. Rebuilding was fun, except that the plastic inside the fuse that holds all the gear was very cheap and brittle, and didn't hold repairs well. But I got her back almost to perfect.

2nd Flight: Caught a gust of wind just after launch that sent her off course farther than the control thows could overcome. Crashed, but not hard. Cracked the nose. That's what tape is for. Decided too windy to take a chance, took her home.

3rd Attempt: MUCH better. One turn, two, three, motor stopped. I started floating her down, just right, motor kicked back in full throttle while I had lots of control input going on, hit the ground hard with motor at 100%. Total rebuild. New fuselage, shaft, gearbox, cowl, battery door, etc. Gearbox off a few degrees starboard, but LHS says is normal. Bought a second battery. I'm an optimist.

4th Attempt: Now I'm a little weary.... My confidence is a little....., well, little. No wind. Everything checks out perfectly. Back in the air! two or three pretty good turns later the motor cuts off, then on, then off, etc. I shut it down, but was headed toward some trees at the time, and you can guess the rest. More tape, back in the air. Same thing. Go home, test motor. Fine. Back in the air, same thing. Range test over and over, fine. Back in the air, same thing. Take a deep breath, go home. Try another day. Took to LHS for help diagnosis, checked out fine.

5th Attempt: Same thing. But by now, I'm p.o.'d, and I keep trying to fly the darn thing anyway. Basically, I destroyed the plane that day.

The next week at the LHS buying heli parts (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment, but I was doing pretty good on my Blade CP heli) the manager says probably the radio gear was the problem. Instead of buying more parts, he made me a good offer on a new one in the box. I took it, but got it's sister the Super Decathlon. When I opened the box, I was very pleasantly surprised. It is much higher quality, even though the same company & price. Looks much better, more solid, better components. I was pleased, but also still a little cautious.

Went back and bought a simulator- Real Flight G-3. Then I had to go buy a new computer to run it. Then I had to go get a better graphics card for my new computer so it would really run it. At this point, the wife is starting to look at me as if I don't know what I'm doing... She's totally right. There really wasn't anything in the sim that compared to the Cub or Decathlon, but I still practised my tail off on everything. I can now fly every plane in the sim without crashing, in 10 mph wind with 16-18 mph gusts. I have spent probably 40 hours on the sim, just practicing the basics.

6th Attempt: Shiny new plane, beautiful day, though just a little windy. Beautiful take off, climb, turn, and I brought her down and landed just so I could say I flew it, which to me requires a safe, deliberate landing. Wind started gusting, and dust was flying from a construction site, so I did something totally out of character, and took her home.

7th Attempt: Today, actually. Ate lunch in the car and took her to a football field. Light winds, probably 5-8 mph. All tests perfect. Great take off from the parking lot (I taped a 1/2" piece of dowl to the tail to protect the skin- no wheel there,) nice gentle flight into the wind. Made 2 good passes down the field. Then on the third, left rudder wouldn't work. Quick thinking, I made a wide right one instead and brought her back around, cut power and landed. Since I couldn't use right rudder, the wind pushed it a bit and I cought some prop and loosened one of the friction-fit landing gear. Tested perfect. Tried again. Left rudder worked, then didn't. I couldn't pull her out that time. Crashed. Taped, tested, flew. Crashed.

On the cub, I was convinced that after the first crash, it was mostly mechanical failure. This time, I just don't know. I'm spooked. For xmas, the wife bought me a gorgeous EFlite mini-edge 540, brushless, lipo, everything, just waiting to be put together. I'm afraid, though. Very afraid. If I build it, I might actually try and fly it. And if that happens...

Anyway, sorry for the long note, but you should be proud. You are a better man than I.