I am just getting ready to start my first plane, an Eagle II. I looked into getting the alpha trainer but I really wanted to get a kit rather than an ARF. The guy at my LHS told me that he taught a guy to fly whith an alpha and it was a very good plane to start with. The only mod that he said he did with the plane was to take the baffle out of the muffler. Said it made it a little eaiser to take off.