Hi Jim,

Sorry to hear this; my experience was similar; the plane flew like a brick (or maybe I flew it like a brick). 3 flights/3 busted props and misc. damage. I believe it was too nose heavy, and I've taken steps to remedy the problem. If not for the Champ, I might have given up altogether and bought another guitar.

I think one advantage to the Champ is its low mass; the plane weighs next to nothing and when it crashes it doesn't do as much damage to itself. The Cub puts about a pound behind every point of impact. I smashed my Champ up frequently for the first few flights. A wing tore off when a wind gust hit it, a dog attacked it one day as I was landing it and chewed it to pieces, but after every mishap it was easily repaired. Looks like crap though, and flys a bit crooked.

I hope you're not too discouraged by your experience. Once you get the hang of it, it gets a lot easier.

There's a sim called FMS that you can download for free online, and you can either "fly" the planes with keyboard commands, or pick up one of those sim controllers which are very inexpensive.

Good luck.

Tom