I made my first landing today on my new Alpha 40, albeit on the trainer box. I made 2 or 3 passes to pratice my approach and then brought it in nice and slow. I gave it a little flair just before landing and set it down on the tricycle landing gear and rolled to a stop. No bounce at all. I felt pretty good and my instructor noted that I couldn't have done better than that.

I started taxiing to the pit area and all of a sudden the engine went to full throttle and the Alpha 40 took off toward a fence. I looked in horror as it went straight into the horizontal rail of the fence. My instructor was a bit confused at first but then he realized that he had let off the trainer switch and the master TX was at full throttle. He didn't react because he thought I still had control.

The damage was surprisingly minor. The engine mount sheared off and the propellor (all 3 blades) broke. The main spar on the left side of the wing was broken but it looks like it will go back in one piece. There was no damage to the fuselage or the tail.

My instructor offered to fix it and I took him up on the offer. He felt really bad about it, but I guess these things happen. The important thing is that nobody was hurt. It could have been a lot worse had it not hit the fence.

Anyway, my confidence is up after that landing. I think I'm ready to solo next time.