I had a great experience my first time out.

I, like most, thought that I was gifted, and that trainer planes were for other people. I built my first plane from a kit. It's a Great Planes .20 size Cub, and it actually came out OK looking. I took it to the local club and asked around for someone to show me how to fly it. A few really great guys came over and "Ooh'd" and "Aah'd" encouragingly. They pointed out a few minor mistakes I had made, told me what a great job I had done, especially for a first kit, and offered to fly it for me. "Heck yea!!" I said. One of the senior instructors showed me the ropes of saftey, fueling, starting, tuning, etc., he explained what we were going to do before he did it, the whole ball of wax. Man, was it great! He took my plane out and made a big deal about how hard it was to take off with a Cub (especially a small one). He did a few ground loops (on purpose I suspect) and finally got it up. IT WAS GLORIOUS!!! My plane was flying!! I was hooked for life. We flew it a few times, and at the end of the day he took me aside and told me that he could probably teach me how to fly with that plane, but if I would just go get a proper trainer I'd be soloing in 1/3 of the time, and be a better pilot because of it. I was already hooked, and he convinced me that getting the trainer was the way to go, so I did. And to think, this guy had never seen me before, I wasn't a member of his club, I was bombarding him with questions, and he spent the better part of his weekend flying day helping out a complete stranger.

What a great hobby, and what an excellent bunch of people.

Frank