The gear mesh was definetly off. Taking off and not really being able to get off the ground is the batteries. I started with a plane very similar and if the batteries are not up it will just act like it is going to lift off and settle back down. Good learning plane though you should have a fun time with it. They fix easy with hot glue also. Had the same problem a couple times when batt. was not full. They won't fly but about 5-8 min. You can get just a slighlty bigger batt. for them with I think 8 cells instead of 7 and they fly them just a tad better. I put a 480 brushles on mine and it hauled the mail pretty good. Still fly it now and then. Probabaly should still be flying JUST it lol.