Dunk1,

First of all welcome to RCUnivirse.
You will find a whole lot of information on this site.

Ok.

I have a Firebird XL.
Let me give you some thoughts.

Wind: Do not fly in the wind. It is very hard to control this plane in the wind. It does not turn very fast so you can get in trouble very easily. I fly a zagi and 40 size glow models and I have a hard time controlling this in the wind.

Location: You do need a very large field to fly this plane. It can get away from you so if you do need to let it glide down on it's own then you can find it.

Control: I found that mine turns one way better than the other. I can't remember which way right now. It also turns better with the power on. So if you need to turn hit the power make your turn and power down. This is the best way to control it.

I always hand launch it. It also lands better with out the wheels. Grass and these wheels do not work.

What I do on a flight it hand launch it. let it get 50 feet up and power off. Power on during turns, keeping it in front of me the whole time. Set up the landing from one side and let it glide in.

Pick it up and try it again.

Bill