Hahahaha, yes I remember a friend of mine and I calculated we were crashing so often and spending so much on repairs that it would have been cheaper to train on a real helicopter! I am not joking. I started with R/C helis very early in the game (before gyros even) and they were a right bastard to fly and maintain. Strangely enough it led to a job flying UAVs all over the world and good money to boot so everything turned out fine!
