Originally posted by shuohan
Wow, sounds like you had a great first experience. I don't see why they make such a big deal out of having an instructor. It seemed pretty easy for me to learn, not to brag. I only had one major problem and that was because my ailerons were reversed (silly me). I think all a person has to do to get started flying a trainer is play a lot of FMS so you can land every plane on the runway every time and then go out and test it yourself. I recently made my first actual flight (after a bunch of crashes shortly after takeoff due to my reversed ailerons) and I was able to fly the plane around just fine. The wind was around 15mph too.
Well, it sounds to me like your FMS
was your instructor! How many times did you crash your simulator before you could get a crash-free solo? And just think, if you had someone who knew what he was doing with you at the field, he would have told you that your ailerons were reversed and saved you a few more crashes. The reason you want an instructor, is that in many cases people who try to fly without one demolish their plane on the first try, and then lose hope after they just dropped $100 or so in the trash. MANY people can't afford to just go out and drop another $100 for another plane.