Thanks for the kind words. You aren't kidding about this plane. They designed it well for the newcomers like myself. It's about 95% plane and about 5% skill on my part to fly this thing. I'm so glad I bought the Aerobird now. When I read up on the Aerobird it sounded like it did everything I wanted for a first plane, but it said it shouldn't be used for first timers. I knew I didn't want what the 2 channel Firebird series had to offer in the longer term, but I kept debating whether I should buy the Firebird as a trainer before moving to the Aerobird like the manufacturer said. I'm so glad I went with my gut feeling and bought the Aerobird as my first plane. And truthfully, I think I would have had a harder time flying the Firebird as a first time plane compared to the Aerobird.

My flying experiences went kind of the opposite of what I expected. I expected to have a hard time landing and an easy time launching, but I was the opposite. The elevator control helped me rise out of some poor launch throws to save some of my flights. If I had bought a Firebird without the elevator I would have crashed several times during my takeoffs. I also feel I would have had a harder time landing a Firebird compared to an Aerobird. The first time I landed my plane I didn't use the elevator much and I tried to control it more with just the throttle like a Firbird. My landing was somewhat jerky but I landed it OK.

The next time I wanted to land I turned off the throttle completely and used the elevator to gradually land the plane. I found this way much easier and smoother to land it without any problems. So I've been doing it this way ever since. I think the key for me was having so much open space with a nice grass field, that I didn't have to try to squeeze the plane into a tight landing area. Since I had all the room in the world, I just let the plane glide slowly while descending until the plane was ready to land, instead of me determining when I wanted to land. I didn't care where it landed since I had such a wide open area. I was just so happy I could land it smoothly in one piece.

If I actually had to land it at a certain spot like a miniature runway or something I'd be dead meat because I currently have no ability at the moment to land it in a predetermined spot. It's amazing to me how easily this thing just glides around in the air without the engine. So I'm happy I got the Aerobird now with the elevator control to help me with my gliding landings. And I look forward to hopefully being able to use it someday to do loops and such.

I guess you're right that I should probably not worry about the stretched area in my control line. I had one other question though. I know I'm nowhere near ready for the X-pack wing yet, but I was thinking of buying it now anyway because it comes with another battery which I do want now for longer flying times. I guess that battery has a little more power too. The extra power of the battery isn't important for me yet, but I want some extra batteries so I can change batteries on the spot so I can air more flying time.

My question is, is there a certain number of batteries I should buy with some sort of multiple charging system so I can charge a couple batteries while I'm flying and then rotate them in some manner? It seems like it takes about 20 minutes to charge my battery, but I'm not positive. Any ideas what to buy to charge extra batteries? Thanks.