Welcome back to the insanity........I mean hobby

There are many very good trainers out there. Most of them fly pretty much the same these days.

For a 40 size trainer you can't go wrong with the SIG LT-40. I learned on the Hobbico SuperStar and feel that is a great trainer also. Be prepared for all kinds of suggestions on this one. It is like asking which is better, Ford or Chevvy.

Since "The Bug" has bitten again, I will make a few suggestions.

Since you will be best served by having an instructor, check out your local club and/or flying field. Your LHS (Local Hobby Shop ) should be able to provide you with some contacts.

1. I usually suggest an ARF to a newbie (beginner) since there is no chance of accidently building in a warp and the emotional attachment to your "labor of love" is a lot less. Many people forget that a trainer is to learn on and you should expect it to get beat up some in the process.

2. Get a USER FRIENDLY ball bearing 46 engine. By user friendly I mean that 99% will run great right out of the box. OS AX, Thunder Tiger Pro and Evolution engines are very good and I can highly recommend them. Any of these engines will be VERY usable in a 2nd, 3rd (or later) plane. There are many very good engines out there, however many of them require a fair amount of "fiddeling with" to get to run properly. Just starting out I would suggest staying with a 2 stroke engine.

3. Get a 6 channel (or more ) COMPUTER radio. Many fliers, by their 3rd or 4th plane want to have flaps and/or retracts. Getting the 6 channel initially saves buying another radio. You will not be using most of the functions initially, however you will quickly "grow" into them. When you talk to the club I also suggest finding out which brand of radio is primarily used in your area and which are the LEAST USED channels at the flying field. Then get that brand of radio on one of the least used channels. This will minimize your waiting time for the channel to clear so you can fly and while manuals for the radio are good, a real person with knowledge/experience of your brand is better. In the Futaba line, the 6EXA is a relatively inexpensive 6 channel entry level computer radio. I am not familiar with JR, HiTec or AirTronics so I can not make any suggestions for them - I am certain others can fill in the blanks on these.

4. Stay away from the RTF packages. The radio is usually a base level 4 channel radio and the engine is usually a bushed bearing 40 engine. The power of a bushed 40 ranges from marginal to OK for a trainer, but the engine is almost never usable for a second plane due to lack of power. By doing some careful shopping you can usually come within a reasonable distance of most RTFs and a lot less than some of the RTFs out there.

5. I will repeat this again, find a local club and get an instructor. The typical 1st flight of someone trying to teach themselves how to fly is about 30 seconds and normally results in damage to the plane/equipment. A simulator is very helpful, but IT WILL NOT TEACH YOU HOW TO FLY. FMS is a free D/L that uses your transmitter and a cord from the buddy box port to the serial port on the computer. It is a pretty good sim, especially for the price.

I don't mean this as a put down, but your full scale experience is going to have little bearing on your ability to fly RC. Your perspectives are all going to be completely different - you are outside the plane operating from a fixed point, there is no tactile feedback from the plane, reaction times of the plane are going to a lot faster than you realize, you need to totally rely on what your eyes tell you, etc., etc..

I hope these suggestions help.