Hi
Sorry to here about your lose. I have however been one of the few members on here that has taught themself to fly both airplanes and helicopters by themself. While i don't neccesary recomend I learned to fly pretty fast. I am not sure how good your current flying level is. I did start with rc cars (helped with perspectice) and then moved up to a slowstick which i swear anybody could fly it. If you don't have those or can't afford to buy some get you plane out on the street in front of your house and taxi it around. I good idea might to even setup a small obsticle corse. Again, perspective in terms of turning left and right is the hardest part because it changes as the plane flies toward. Up and down however doesn't change. Now, i do recmoend getting a duraplane for one seeking to teech themselves. Why you ask? Becuase the are VERY durable very simple an easy to biuld. I also like how while not over doing you they teach you the basics of covering, hinging, and biulding. They arn't really a arf and arn't really a kit either. The trainer 40 is what i learned on. Non the less, it was a very fun experience and I believe the kit only costs 70 dollars with all biulding equipment. Non of the bad crashes i had were actually apart of my piloting error. But they did end up going in pretty hard. I did help with landings when i almost always rolled of the runway. All in all a good plane to learn on if you want to teach yourself!