There are MANY good trainers out there.

The FIRST THING you need to do is contact a local flying club. They will provide an instructor at no charge. I can say with certanty that trying to teach yourself to fly IS GOING TO BE EXPENSIVE and discouraging. The average first flight of someone trying to teach themselves to fly is about 30 seconds and typically results in damage to the plane and/or equipment on board it. A simulator is also helpful, but, IT WILL NOT TEACH YOU HOW TO FLY.

Since MOST trainers fly pretty much the same I suggest the following just starting out:

1. Stay away from the RTFs (Ready To Fly), especially the NexStar. The Nexstar has it's own set of problems. A search here on NexStar will provide an ABUNDANCE of information on these problems. The primary reasons I suggest staying away from RTFs are, the engines range from marginal to OK for the trainer, but are rarely useable for a second plane due to lack of power. The radios are typically a BASE LEVEL 4 channel radio with no choice of brand or channel (more on this further down).

2. Select an ARF trainer you like the looks of. I recommend an ARF for the first plane because if you build the plane you WILL HAVE an emotional attachment to the plane. In addition, you can easily build a warp or other problem into the plane and not realize it. Remember, a trainer is to learn on. Expect it to get beat up and/or damaged in the process.

3. Get a USER FRIENDLY ball bearing 46 engine. By user friendly, I mean that 99%+ of the engines will run great right out of the box with little, if any, "fiddeling". Some USER FRIENDLY engines I can recommend are: OS AX, Thunder Tiger PRO and Evolution brands. There are many excellent engines out there, however, a great many of them require a good deal of "fiddeling" to get to run properly. By getting the ball bearing engine initially it saves you from buying another engine for your 2nd plane.

3. Get a 6 channel (or more) COMPUTER radio. You will not be using the additional channels and functions to begin with, but, MANY fliers find they want these channels/functions by their 3rd or 4th plane (retracts, flaps, mixing capability, etc ). Again, this saves you from buying another radio so you can have these channels/functions. With Futaba, the 6EXA is a good, reasonably priced radio. All the major brands are good (Futaba, JR, HiTec, AirTronics), however, I am only familiar with Futaba.

4. While you are at the local flying field and/or talking to a club find out what BRAND OF RADIO the majority of the people are using and find out which are the LEAST USED CHANNELS. When you purchase your radio, get the brand the majority of the people are using and on one of the least used channels. As for the radio, the manuals are good, but a live person with knowledge/experience of your brand is much better when (not if, but when) you have a question or problem. By getting the radio on one of the least used channels you will minimize/eliminate your waiting time for the channel to clear so you can fly and also minimize the possibility of you being accidently "shot down" by someone.

5. I also suggest getting a "buddy box" cord. This allows 2 transmitters to be linked together so an instructor and student can fly together. You need to be aware of compatibility. Not all the radio equipment is compatible with each other - it is improving though. Make sure the buddy box cord will work with your transmitter and your instructor's transmitter.

6. With some careful shopping you should be able to get this stuff for a little more than most RTFs and a lot less than some of them.

7. You should also check with the local club on 2 other things: SOME clubs offer a program where the student can try flying for 30 days at no cost. The club provides the ALL the equipment and an instructor. This AMA program is designed to let people try the hobby before spending any money. Second, frequently a club member will have a used trainer setup for sale at a reasonable cost.

Hope this is of some help.