OK fair enough, You have taught yourself to fly a simple airplane that flys at perhaps fifteen miles per hour, is controlled around two axis plus a throttle and flown very close in.

It is a huge step from there to a conventional trainer that is going to fly at least three times as fast at least three times further away because of that speed with the need for considerably refined orientation skills. This aircraft is going to need to be controlled around all three axis and there will be a change in the various levers that provide that control depending on your radio.

Now I commend you for success with your first steps However when someone brags about 'having been 'self taught' at that level on these forums and in somes cases implying you are better off going it alone, then this is doing a real disservice to us all. There was even one increditable thread recently when a gentleman went for it alone and of course crashed in under thirty seconds then went on to imply everybody should do it on their own!!

I fly at a municipal field of a small town and there are no clubs involved to speak of. Anybody can fly and on an almost daily basis folks show up with either entirely inappropriate airplanes or may have an adaquate trainer but refuse all help which is always offered in a pleasant way. When this happens all we can do is take cover. These folks are usually lost to the sport forever. This is a probable result of the influence you can have when you bragg about being 'self taught'.

So is it impossible to teach yourself? No of course not, Many of us have done just that simply because there was no other way and not only that we had to do it all over agine many times as technology changed entirely the way we flew our airplanes.

Is it a good idea it imply that its better to teach yourself? Absolutly not and it will do an awfull lot of folks a real disservice.

All of the above is just my opinion however I do stand by it.

John