I taught myself to fly with a Top Flite Schoolmaster powered by a Cox .049. I used a cheap throttle control and rudder; added elevator later. The plane was light and flew quite well all by itself. I used the over the shoulder method to overcome orientation at first and gradually got over it. To handle wind I would do upwind s turns like glider pilots on the slopes. Don't let it get downwind until you have the orientation problem licked! I joined a club later and that improved my flying, but I wouldn't have missed the fun of learning on my own for anything--gave me some of my best memories. Key is a light plane with a small engine. I would spiral into the ground when I got into trouble. Never had serious damage because there was so little momentum. On calm days I would hand the Tx over to total strangers. I had no problem transitioning to bigger, faster aileron types later, also without instruction, because I'd been flying for years by the time I did.

I don't understand how those big fast .40, now .46, powered "trainers" became the norm. I've seen some near disasters at our club with people flying those things, either because the instructor on the buddy box didn't take over soon enough or because a newly soloed pilot got confused. Not much fun when it's a five pound bomb with a fiberglass buzz saw on the nose coming straight into the pits! It's completely unnecessary.

It's not hard to design a plane that most people can solo in a single afternoon. Many such planes were flown back in the early RC days when all you had was a pushbutton. They are wonderful trainers with modern radios and small modern engines. I think an "Esquire" with an OS .10 would be very hard to beat as a first plane. I had a Livewire Champ, 56 in. span. I had a ball with it for many years. Most people would put a .40 on a plane that size now, but it would do rolling circles, loop from level flight, and do beautiful touch and goes with an OS .15 FP. That's because it weighed less than three pounds. A new pilot can have so much fun with a plane like that right away. I just don't understand being chained to an instructor with a high powered plane. Jim