I say probably no, but maybe yes.

The smart answer is no, Caps like all other scale aerobatic planes are very tipstall prone if you slow them down too much or get too agressive with the elevator. I would not recommend a Cap for a new pilot...

BUT, it depends on your skills, and your level of self awareness. Some people don't know what they dont know. There are folks that "think" they are more skilled than they are because they dont have anything to judge themselves against and vice versa.

Here would be the litmus test for me to tell me that you are ready for a plane of this nature.


Notice I put a lot of emphasis on landing since this is where its going to get tricky. Flying is not that big of a deal, its the landings that will kill you.

1. Can you really 3 point land a trainer, on the runway, in a controlled manner so that the plane gently sits on the runway and rolls out 25'-50' or so and comes to a gentle stop.. EVERY time you land. Even in a crosswind? If you make planned approaches that all look just alike and are capable of consistantly approaching the same way and make nice gentle bounce free landings every single time, you may be ready.
If you still have any bounce or "plop" in your landings then you probably are not ready. If you drop the plane on the ground with a little bounce most of the time and occasionally grease in a nice smooth landing, you probably are not ready. If you usually land just a little too slow, or a little too fast or if you have to land a trainer so fast that it skips several times before it sets down or makes an excessivly long roll.. You probably are not ready.

If you ever get the least bit confused when flying upright or inverted, you probably are not ready. I'm talking really flying inverted, you bascially need to be able to takeoff, roll inverted and cruise around inverted until you are ready to land..

Can you put a trainer into a really nasty vertical spin and then recover? If not, you are definitely not ready. These planes love to stall, and if you cant get a trainer out of a somewhat stalled condition, you are dead meat with a Cap.

Most people can generally fly around, but if you can't really land with control as I mention above and do it consistantly then you might get away with it, but you are asking for trouble... I have seen otherwise really good pilots tipstall these sorts of planes on downwind turns and when landing. You really have to be 1 step ahead of th plane at all times.