There are a lot of ways and opinions on how to "jump in all the way". I will give you my opinion. First...a good flight simulator is well worth the money...will save you money in the long run and will definately help as you get better and want to practice new "tricks". Ihave realflight G4.5...but there are other good sims out there also. Ialso think that getting a fixed pitch heli like the Blade mSR is a good heli to start with as it is very durable and very easy to hover. It's for indoor use only though as it is small. Mine has crashed many times and I have never broken anything or had to replace anything on it...it is one tough "son of a gun". Your budget has a lot to do with how you start out.....a good simulator and a mSR will run about 300 - 350 dollars. Ibought the flight sim....a Spektrum DX7 radio...and the bind and fly mSR...and a used Raptor 50. This has been a great way to start for me as the radio will work with any heli I get...the mSR I practice with indoors....and then Ifly the Raptor which is a big heli that was fairly easy to hover with training gear on. This has worked well for me...hopefully some others will chime in with what has worked for them.