Hey thanks for the informative reply!

I knew mostly what a thermal was, as in a rising column of air, just not too much in detail. But, as I said, I gotta find one, and with the weather as hot as it is going to be the next few days, I am hoping to find some..... only problem is... at higher altitudes, it's harder to tell within a small amount of time if Im rising of descending. So even if I do come across a thermal...., I guess practice makes perfect. Oh and one more thing, how high (the lower, the safer for my cheap RTR electronics...) can R/C-able thermals possibly exist? Is 100 to 200 ft possible? Or do they only occur higher? Like I said, if the plane gets beyond a certain height, I just can't tell if its gaining/losing altitude, let alone what attitude its nose is at (pointing below or above horizon and stalling) which is actually another issue that comes with flying high for me I guess.

BTW about the ESC brakes, thx for pointing that out about stopping the prop. Problem is, neither my SkyFly nor my Slo-V rtr electronics allow me to do that drag brake stuff , though I believe my Skyfly's prop usually does come to a full stop when I cut the motor.

Man its so nice and calm outside tonite (finally, after how many windy days...grrrrr) , too bad I dont feel like risking a night flight with a tree encounter. {]