Though there's a lot of awesome advice in here, I'd go so far as to say that instructors are a good idea generally speaking. <span style="color: #ff0000">Warning:an epic-sized post is forthcoming.</span>

I started building and flying R/C airplanes back when I was 16. The trainer at the time that my father got me was a Tower Hobbies Tower Trainer 40, and I'll be honest: my third or fourth flight with it was less than stellar. As a matter of fact, she actually flew off into the horizon, never to be seen from again.

Suffice it to say, my father wasn't too happy with me, because it's not a trainer that I lost:it was $379.00 down the tubes.

Don't let this dissuade you. The first several flights were complete successes. I tuned the engine to the best of my abilities, performed the range checks, did all that good stuff I'd read about online. When it came down to crunchtime, I took off, did a few circuits with some flips and rolls, and landed without an issue (though at least one of the flights ended with a dead stick landing). The final flight in question ended with disastrous results because I was having a bit too much fun, and failed to realize just how dark it was getting, and it was incredibly difficult for me to determine the orientation of the plane at this point.

Also, I hadn't yet come to the realization that my vision was quite poor.

That Christmas, I was treated to the first incarnation of the RealFlight flight sim, and I got to love a lot of the planes in there. Specifically the Simple Flier and the P-51D. There was zero stress when I flew any of the planes, and I was doing complex aerobatic maneuvers within minutes, and landing with just as much grace.

Of course, as the people have attested here, real life conditions will hardly ever be as pristine as those you encounter in a flight sim, and even at that age I knew that. So I went in to the weather settings and constantly randomized them. I'd set it to give me random gusts here and there, sweeping across the landing field, down it, up it, and so forth.

Flying was difficult, but not impossible by a longshot.

On a side note, it's been a long time since I played around with the RealFlight simulator, so I don't know how it's evolved up to this point. I believe the last time I messed with it, it was just hitting G2.5, and smoke trails were the new big thing.

Anyway.

I'd also been given another trainer by my father (whom had cooled down significantly), and this time, we went out looking for an instructor. We found one who professed to be a seasoned 3Dpilot (I had no idea what this meant at the time, but it sounded official), and met up at a local lake that had frozen over for the winter. It was cold outside, but otherwise, pristine. No wind at ground level, and a relatively clear airstrip on the ice.

After looking at the setup and deeming it flight worthy, he started 'er up and took off.

He told me that he wanted to make sure that everything was working properly in the air before we got out the buddy box and started flying that way, and of course, I yielded to what I thought was much greater experience.

To my horror, however, the flight ended with him coming in far too steep far too fast, and he ran into the brush on the sides of the strip. Which left the left wing horribly torn.

That was the end of my flight for that day.

A couple weeks later, we go and purchase a membership to the local R/C club, join the AMA, and go to the local flying field. I go when there's nobody else there, and sure enough, everything goes perfectly well.

Afew years later, and you find me messing around with my first self-built kit:the Great Planes UltraSport 40 Plus. Not only did I build it all on my own with only an ARFas prior experience, but I built it with all the bells and whistles you could add to it (that is, retracts and a beautiful 4-stroke). Unfortunately, the first flight ended on a sad note, with the retracts being ripped out due to the field I fly at being poorly maintained (Ifoolishly figured that as long as I could take off, that's all I need to worry about).

/deepbreath

The moral of the story? Instructors are prolly a good thing to have as a general... guideline... but they're in no way completely infallible. If you can accept that, you'll be good to go and a lot less disappointed if something does go wrong, be it their fault or otherwise.

My advise? Practice in the sim, do a lot of reading, and get comfortable with the hobby. And don't leave the weather settings at an unrealistic dead calm. As the saying goes, don't limit your challenges; challenge your limits.

And also, a nice durable trainer wouldn't hurt. For this, I'd recommend a DuraPlane Trainer 40. Cheap, durable, and a trainer. What more could you ask for?</p>