ORIGINAL: rdavico

I know this gets asked a lot, but my case is just a little different. I have flown my Nexstar a couple flights on a buddy box, and did OK with it. My instructor is a great guy, but our schedules conflict pretty regularly. I havent flown the Nexstar in 8 or 9 weeks, and have never taken off or landed it. Here's where it gets interesting.. A little while back, I was so anxious to start flying that I decided to get an electric plane that I could mess around with during the week while waiting to fly with the instructor on the weekend. I figured it would be cheap and not the end of the world if I wreck it. Well, it wasn't exactly what I would call cheap by the time I had charger, batteries, etc, but at least the planes themselves arent too expensive. The first electric I bought was a Great Planes Yak 55 flightflex foamie. I had a few crashes, did a lot of repairing, and got to where I could fly it around pretty good. I knew the Yak was not a begginer's plane, but I am just stubborn that way I guess. After a while the plane looked like junk with all the repair jobs I decided to get another plane. This time I picked up a GP P-51 foamie. Again it was definitely not a begginer's plane, but I wanted to find something that was going to work with the electronics, batteries, etc. from the Yak. I took it off, and everything was great. It was faster than the Yak, but it was OK. A couple minutes into the flight, for some reason I had a brain dump, and for a split second it was like I had never held a radio in my hands in my life. That was all it took, and I smacked it right into the ground. I was frustrated, and figured I need to forget about it and go back to waiting for the weekend to fly with the instructor. A couple days later, I was over it, had already spent all this money on lipos, receivers, servos, etc., that I had to continue, and bought a cap 580 "flat out" foamie. again, not a begginer's plane. Well, I have not crashed it yet, but have had a few close calls, but for the most part, I am actually flying this thing. The landing gear is definitely not intended for grass or dirt, so I havent had a smooth landing yet. It is extremely hard to fly in even a little bit of wind, buy I have leqarned to deal with it.

Now I am looking at my Nexstar again, and trying to decide if I should attempt to fly it solo. I know it is easier to fly than the foamies, but it is also more expensive. I am looking at it like it is the real thing, and the others were just toys. I know that this is wrong. What do you think? Should I be able to take off and land my Nexstar with the foamie experience I have had? BTW, I put a lot of time in on my Aerofly deluxe before I had this great idea of trying to fly a little "toy" electric all by myself.

Thanks,
Rich