Tell ya what...I didn't learn completely on my own. I got with an instructor twice and then went at it alone. I got a sim with my aircraft too and spent a month or two playing around with it. I got pretty good on the sim and it got a bit boring. I was fairly confident that I could fly it alone but I was worried about one thing, especially after talking to a friend from work who had just tried to fly his by himself....my question was this....are my control surfaces setup just right and if not, what will this thing do the first time it breaks ground and can I get it safely trimmed out to level flight on my own during my first flight....if not, can I get it back on the ground in one piece? I didn't know what to expect on my first flight. So, I got with an instructor and sure enough, it flew like crap on the first flight. The instructor got another guy to run over and trim out the trainer box while he trimmed the other one. After landing, he made some adjustments on the servo control horns etc. and the plane flew okay. A few more flight with the instructor was all it took and I'm flying around the house here on my own. I never actually soloed with the instructors but I was confident enough to go it alone from that point.