Hey now, I'm a self taught tree magnet! 2x in the air and I have yet to land intentionally. Get an instructor is VERY good advice. This latest encounter with nature completely destroyed my Alpha trainer. After about 2 hours of walking through living barbed wire (commonly known as briars) I managed to find most of the fuselage, the engine, and radio minus the servo that was in the missing wing. I also found part of the rudder and about 1/2 of the elevator-it hit so hard the wheels came off the struts. Turns out that it was cheaper to buy a new plane instead of fixing the old one and replacing the missing parts. The Solo series trainers have the same flight characteristics as the alpha so using the radio and evolution engine make it just like the alpha to fly. It even has the same look. (Just FYI, on top of taking several weeks to get replacement parts the wing is $80, and the tail assembly is $35-A new Solo is only $99 and you don't even have to repair a damaged fuselage!) The whole point of this depressingly expensive story is take the sage advice and use a buddy cord with an instructor!

Good luck, happy intentional landings.