You'll notice that an instructor has been mentioned by a couple of people in this thread. That's because it's a very different path between gaining the skills needed to fly serious model planes vs. just putting toy type planes in the air. If the question is what plane to get if you don't plan to learn any flying skills with an instructor before soloing (also known as doing it on your own) then a Hobby Zone Super Cub is decent on calm days. I'd call it a happy medium between toy grade planes and hobby grade. It's not crash proof by any means, but it bounces reasonably well and parts are cheap. Understand that the plane won't teach you proper piloting technique or how to gauge the weather to decide if the wind conditions are acceptable for the plane (at least not until after you're in the air). If you really don't want to learn anything before starting to fly (note: reading stuff on RCU does nothing to develop your flying skills) a Firebird Commander will go around in circles for you in a very wide open space. It's more of a toy though in that it is designed to be flown by unskilled pilots. However, if you plan to use this first plane to learn piloting skills in order to move on to better performing planes, the ones mentioned above (especially the Apprentice) are good choices for working with an instructor. Before buying anything though, talk with an instructor and see what he recommends.