RE: trainer plane lifespan
My trainer, the NexSTAR Deluxe, went through two student flyers. Me an another older fellow. Both of us abused it, and it still flys, and it's about four years old now. Most hard landings will happen after you solo, or during training while attempting to learn to land. If you are buddy box'ed up with an instructor, he should be able to recover for you, which adds life to the trainer. After you solo, though, that's when you will probably do the most damage, as did I. But that's part of learning, and all my mistakes were repairable, with the NexSTAR that is..ha.. can't say that for my good old classic Goldberg Skylark 56. That had only one mistake, but oh, what a mistake that was. All I had after that was some servos, an RX, and an engine. All else was not more than toothpicks. Then came the Tiger 60, which I still have and still fly. It too took some hard landings, but never anything serious and it still flys great.
DS.