I finally figured it out.
I was stymied a bit as my cat would crowd the thing once I turned it on and the led lights got going.
My problem, I was trying to hover just off the ground, that might work for some but it didn't work for me. The trick is to just lay on the throttle enough to get it 3 or 4 foot in the air and remember it has a built in bias to turn to the right.
So gas it up and steer just a bit to the left.
This thing is really fun but the batteries in the remote charge the helicopter. The helicopter charge only lasts for about 15 minutes and the thing chews through 6 AA batteries in about 4 flights.
While I was screwing around just trying to hover close to the ground I didn't hurt it but I was not flying it, once I figured out how to fly it I managed to break the left rear skid strut (so far).