My first RC airplane was the Aerobird Challenger. I had a heck of a time trying to get it to fly. One problem that crept up early was with the 12v DC battery charger that came with the plane. It would "false peak" and tell me my battery was fully charged when it wan't even half charged. I'd go to launch the plane and the engine would die almost immediately.

If your charger tells you your flight pack is fully charged but the pack isn't at all warm, your charger could be lying. I bought the Hobbyzone AC charger for charging my flight packs and then only used the 12V charger to "top up" my batteries on the way to the field.

Another problem I had was trying to keep the stick body and the tail assembly aligned properly. After I put my Aerobird into the ground a few times, the tail boom got bent out of alignment. The fishing line and plastic screw setup with the tail controls was also problematic. I learned that, quite often, the difference between a good flight and a bad flight was taking the time to make sure the tail assembly and stick were aligned properly with the wing and main fuselage, and to also make sure that the elevon controls on the v-tail surface were aligned properly and had a good tight connection. If the fishing line slipped a little on one side, it would make the plane almost impossible to control in that direction. I could turn left or right often, but not the opposite direction. It's more difficult to avoid a tree when you can't choose which direction you'd like to turn your plane.

My breakthrough actually came when I ran into a flying club that offered flight instruction on glow trainers. I took a test flight on one of the club trainers with the help of an instructor, and much to my amazement the plane actually went where I told it to go. I put my Aerobird away and bought a Hobbico Nexstar. After I finished flight training and solo'd with my Nexstar, I found I could also fly my Aerobird much better than I ever could before.

I know plenty of guys who have taught themselves to fly on parkflyer electrics, and that's all they ever want to fly. They didn't work well for me, however, and I found glow planes to be much easier to operate and control. By the time I finally got my Aerobird figured out, it was basically shot and I ended up scrapping it a few months after my initial purchase. My original Nexstar airframe got damaged, but I'm still flying the engine and flightpack in a new trainer ARF I built for $59. I have two other sport planes that I built a couple of years ago that are now in their third flying season.

My Aerobird Challenger was only $129 brand new while my Nexstar was around $340, but the Aerobird was the most expensive plane I've ever owned. It was not easy to learn on, it was difficult to keep flying well, and it was trashed after a few months of light flying. With glow aircraft, the engine and radio equipment survive all but the most brutally spectacular crashes, they fly much better in the wind, and they can last for many years instead of only many months.

I've found that glow trainers are better to learn on and a better investment. When I tried to learn to fly by myself on an Aerobird Challenger, the only one who was happy was the local Hobbytown owner from whom I had to keep buying wings, propellers, tail assemblies, and rubber bands.

If I were interested in learning how to fly right now today, I'd be jumping all over the Pegasus .40 Super Combo deal at eHobbies.com:

http://www.ehobbies.com/ttr4556-f12.html

$219.99 buys you a big, beautiful Thunder Tiger Pegasus .40 airframe with a 70" wingspan, a TT GP-42 2-stroke glow engine with prop, glow plug, and spinner, and a Hitec Laser 4 radio system. The whole package comes with engine, radio receiver, servos, switch harness, and receiver battery all pre-installed. The transmitter has a trainer jack on the back to be connected to a buddy box or to an instructors radio. The package includes the rechargable NiCd packs for the transmitter and receiver batteries as well as the wall charger. A plane package like this is barely $100 more than an Aerobird Challenger, but it's much better to fly in the wind and would provide years of flying enjoyment instead of weeks or months. Even if you totalled the airframe, you could simply move the engine and radio equipment to another $69 or $79 ARF instead of replacing the whole thing.

Where I live, the wind blows. I like being able to go out and fly in a 15mph breeze without breaking a sweat. If all I had to fly was my old Aerobird Challenger, I'd probably only get 5 or 10 days per year that were nice enough to fly.