Thanks TedMo! I wish I was part of the "upcoming generation" but I'm closer to 40 than I'd care to remember [:@] I just believe that when you're learning about a new hobby, sport, language, culture, religeon, history, science, airplanes, cars, computers, quantum physics, phtography, philosophy, or whatever else you should listen to others with more knowledge and experience (especially EXPERIENCE in something as intricate and complex as flight characteristics and aerodynamics!) and then experiment and read everything you can find on it (which will open up entirely NEW lines of questions leading to MORE knowledge which leads to MORE reading and learning; uncovering NEW lines of questions from that, and so on). I guess it's part of the "engineer" in me (as embarassing as that is! engineers have the stereotype of being bad dressers, having thick glasses, poor conversationalists, etc.... basically "geeks"; I do NOT fit the stereotype THANK GOD! )

And I REALLY believe in this process when it comes to something involving hundreds of dollars that can potentially turn into mylar coated splinters because I don't have the skills required to pilot it or configure it correctly - That's why I do my research FIRST to find out what I like and what MAY be within my abilities and THEN ASK for outside input from people who may have EXPERIENCE with some of the craft I like and if THEY think it's within my ability to fly. For example, I have been in love with the P40 Warhawk since I was 8 years old and I REALLY want to fly one, BUT I know that warbirds of this type are NOT within my ability to fly at this time and I'd crash it VERY soon after it left the ground. To me "research 1st, ask 2nd", is just a common sense way to do things and it gives me a way to get more INFORMATION instead of saying "I want a new plane, what should I buy?" those are the kinds of questions that make me cranky! They're just unfocused "non-questions".Learning how to ask GOOD questions is one of the MOST IMPORTANT part of learning!

I agree that many people have a tendancy to "ask first, research 2nd" or better (God forbid) "Ask 1st, never research....." I don't really think it's "lazy", I believe it has to do with the fact that the entire information gathering paradigm has shifted from the past method of "book research and reading" to "information at your fingertips" (literally!). Even as "recent" as my college days almost 20 years ago at Georgia Tech, I can tell you for a fact that today I can find 4x to 5x as much information in 2 hours than I could have in an 8 hr day utilizing one of the best technical libraries in the country. Why? because VAST amounts of information is easily and quickly available - provided that you konw WHERE and HOW to find it - this is the "big trick" of navigating modern information systems. Unless you know how to find something the "information" out there is useless. Often the quickest way to finding something is just to find someone or a group that MIGHT know the asnwers and ask THEM. I'm guilty of this too. I know that I can spend 4 hours plowing through an entire company's databases and folders to find what I need, but instead, I'll just ask a co-worker who may have what I need handy or know where to find it.

Also, many people forget that there is a difference between "data" and "information": Data is essentially USELESS until you know how to FIND IT and put it in CONTEXT. When you know where to find it and what context it fits into it becomes INFORMATION, which is USEFUL For example, the wing loading of a Tiger2 is 16.80 oz/sq.ft. Great. But unless I know that a typical trainer has a wing loading of between 17 and 20 oz/sq.ft the "data" of "16.80" doesn't mean anything AND if I don't know what "wing loading" MEANS that "data" doesn't tell me anything either. When I know WHAT wing loading IS and how 16.80 oz/sq.ft. relates to other craft, it becomes "INFORMATION".

Incidentally, a wing loading of 16.80 oz/sq.ft basically tells me that the Tiger2 can be a VERY gentle craft to fly with the ability to almost glide forever! (vs a warbird's loading of 26-30 oz/sq.ft which indicates that they probably don't fly really well without power and I'll bet that a deadstick on a warbird = CARDIAC ARREST!!!!)

I've seen the U-Can-Do planes and they're sharp looking, but I'll also say that right now, I don't have enough "Information" about 3D flying to know if it's something I'd like to pursue or not. Right now, I'm just learning how to fly and how to avoid hitting the ground with something OTHER than the wheels [:@] But I can tell you that I'll do research on it