RE: Newbie needs help!
A friend of mine would suggest finding a steep grassy hill and throwing it into the wind, if possible, and just letting it glide motor off. Keep the speed up by keeping the nose slightly down, not too fast, not too slow. Left turns, right turns, whatever you can manage before it touches down. Then, go get it, walk back up and repeat....
Batteries should be in the plane to keep the CG in the right spot.