#1. Join the AMA and a club and find someone to teach you to fly. Learning by yourself is very difficult (it's been done, but near impossible) and you will spend more time repairing any airplane you have than flying. Frustrating and expensive!

#2. Radio - Get a 6 channel Fuataba or Airtronics or JR or Hi Tech. They are all good, some more expensive than others but make it 6 channels. If you stay with the hobby, sooner or later you will use the other channels. Futaba would be my choice, very popular, Buddy Boxes readily available and it's a good radio, but others are good also.

#3. Buy a good trainer (.40 or .60 size glo, gas can come later). My choice would be a Sig LT 40, RTF. It's a super trainer that practically flies itself if you leave it alone.

#4. Buy an OS .46FX for power and you won't regret it. Other engines are available that will do the job, but OS is great, resale value is tops and performance and reliability can't be beat. It's more power than needed for the LT 40 but that is what throttles are for.

Good luck and welcome to the greatest hobby around!

Tom Perry
Melbourne, Florida