First tried a helo in 77. I had been flying airplanes for a few years and was the best pilot around. A friend bought one, no gyro, and he asked me to fly it for him, I got it to hover and swore I would never ever try a helo again. Fast forward to 1992 and I was working in a hobby shop in CA and there were these brothers that worked there too and they said they were helo pilots and that they could learn to fly a airplane faster than I could learn to fly a helo, Bets ON,,,,, I bought a used Kyosho DX30 from them and the first day(friday) I burned a whole gallon at their heli field. Had sticks and balls and by the end of the day I could hover very well, nose out, nose in. Next day(saturday) I burned another gallon and by the end of the day I was w/o the sticks and balls and could walk the dog, wander around flying 8's etc, they were not there that day, the next day(sunday) I went forward flight and since it was an airplane at that point was doing loops and rolls. They came out that day and they couldn't belive that I was up and flying around. Thats when they told me all they could do was hover! That week I programed in switchless(idleups) and the next weekend I was hovering inverted and doing flips. I bought my second helo that week, A kalt Zr, bought my first .60 size within a month and a gasser within two months. Sadly I burnt out on helos after a year and went back to mostly flying airplanes. I now have a good mix and fly the helos now and then. I bought my first simulator last month, never had one before.

Moral of the story, learn at YOUR pace, take what everyone else has done with a grain of salt and enjoy the ride....