For the beginner in Abilene. I am in Odessa Texas just right down the road. I agree that nitro is the way to go for your first plane. There are lots of good flying trainer planes so pick one that you like but not love as all planes have a crash dare, just don't know what date it is. I started fling again aftera 20 year lull and 2 wives but I picked a trainer to get back the feel of the sticks. I bought a TWM sky raider Mach 1 ARF and got it ready to fly. It has a good wing span and a bolt on wing and they are a good looking plane and easy to finish. It is still one of my favorite planes to fly as the west Texas wind seems to blow all the time and the sky raider handles the wind really well and the cost of one is less than 125.00 dollars. Then you will need an engine, 40 size is good, and watch eBay for a good sale price on one. You can usually find one for 75.00 or less and that would include shipping. You will need to get several props, a 10 x 6 is good for the engine and plane. Then you will need to buy some fuel. I fly 15% nitro but you can choose what fuel you want to fly with. And you will need a chicken stick or an electric starter, and if you choose electric starter, you will need a small 12 volt battery also. And you will need a glow plug lighter to light the glow plug. Then you will need a good radio. I personally use futaba radios, but there are other good brands too. Look on eBay as you can get a good system pretty reasonable on there. You are going to need to go ahead and get a complete radio system at the start as you are going to need 4 servos, a transmitter and a receiver and you can get all of that in a complete radio package. A flight box is not mandatory but comes in handy to hold your fuel, starter, etc. oh and you will need to get some fuel hose to plumb your motor. Depending in the plane you buy, you may or may not need to buy a spinner also. All of the above can be purchased at various hobby stores online. I tend to buy a lot of stuff from tower hobbies as they almost always have everything you need in stock. If the radio you buy doesn't have a receiver battery with it, you will need one of those too. Again you can find them on eBay pretty cheap, and I use 6 volt 2500 milliamperes battery packs in all my planes. You will also need some thin ca glue and some 6 minute epoxy to assemble your plane with. And depending on which plane you get, if it has a wing that is held on with rubber bands, you will need to get a box of #64 rubber bands. If you choose a flight box, get you a fuel pump to pump your fuel in the plane. A hand pump works well. You will need to balance your prop too as vibration is bad for a plane. You will need some foam padding to wrap around your reciever and battery pack in the plane and I glue Velcro strips in to hold my electronics. I am sure I have missed a few things but this is most or maybe all the essentials you will need, plus all the sim time you can get.