Shawn:
Stan Hiller taught himself to fly in his first helicopter. Unfortunately his first flight lasted three seconds, the time it took to roll over in the driveway of his home. Subsequent flights were more successful.
The deal with Rotorway is that you go to the factory and they teach you to hiver in 7.5 hours. They then give you a 'hover only' endorsement, and even if you have no other flying experience, you can go home and legally fly your Rotorway for as long as you like, as long as you stay in the hover. This allows you to flight test your aircraft as you build it. When you've mastered the hover, you go back to the factory and they teach you the next bit. As far as I know, nobody has ever been killed at this game. I believe also that Rotorway are talking about increasing the hover-only requirement to twelve hours.