Learning to fly

So, some time quite recently I decided to get into flying model remote control aircraft. I've always been interested, but a number of factors had conspired to make me think that now was the time:

• I have come to appreciate that work is not a hobby.
  
• All of the RTF (Ready To Fly) Kits, as well as cheapness (relative to income) and somewhat indestructibility of learner planes made it seem easier to get into. I'll be honest, I'm not a patient or particularly skilled person when it comes to working with my hands so building from a balsa kit only to watch it disintegrate on the first stuffed landing would be too much.
  
• The rise of the electric powered "park flyers" means you can just head down to the local oval and have a fly, rather than driving miles out of town.
  
• A man needs to have toys. RC Planes are kind of geeky toys - but that does make sense for me.

So, to this end I started looking at model rc planes.

Although I took a look at a lot of planes available on Ebay I eventually decided to visit the local hobby shop that was recommended by a work mate. They recommended a trainer called the "Electrafun XP". So, that is what I bought, a few days later (the salesman told me to wait a week for a price drop - what a nice thing to do, and the $20 came in handy by some replacement parts, but more on that later).

So, I've had some flights, I've had some succesful landings, and some not so successful ones. I'll write some stuff up soon with some more details, photos etc.