I'm new to all of this and I'm one of those who taught himself with FMS, so take my comments as you will

I think I have come into RC at a time when things are changing very quickly. I got a Slow Stick which any fool can throw together in an evening and take out to the nearest football field. I flies slowly enough to give a lot of reaction time and when it is trimmed out, it pretty much comes down unharmed if I cut the throttle and let go of the sticks.

While I found FMS to be fairly limited in terms of realism (same with CM, which I also messed with), it was good practice for orientation and flying towards myself.

As a result, I've been flying my SS successfully for the past 3 weeks. I know that crashes are inevitable, so I'm not trying to brag by any means!

All of this simply wasn't possible even a few years ago, and that's why I never got into planes until now.

Electrics and park/slowflyers are changing the hobby, for better or worse. I'm the last person who would argue that going at it alone is better than getting help--that's obviously not true. However, it's much more conceivable now than it was when I first wanted to get into the hobby.

Anyway, I'm not sure how all of this fits into the discussion, but I wanted to throw that out there. Again, I'd never recommend the way I did it over the traditional method, but the number of people who jump in without instruction is going to increase every year. Lots will crash and give up, but lots will be okay in the long run.

Tim

PS, I also would point out that I'm not naive enough to think that my skills would enable me to successfully fly a glow plane right now Baby steps...