RE: learning to fly
I have seen more advanced model airplanes crashed by people who moved on before they really mastered their trainers. Can you do stall turns? Fly a lap around the pattern inverted? Side slips? Slow rolls? Can you control the plane at low speeds? Or, is aimlessly burning holes in the sky and then landing somewhere on the field without breaking the prop most of the time your idea of "mastering a trainer"?