Yeah, a Simulator is the way to go. That will teach you the controls and it wont cost you anything when you crash. I have been playing the sim for about a week, 15, 20 minutes here and there, and I just tried to fly my bird for the first time and was able to hover in my garage for almost the whole battery. I crashed right at the end and broke a tail rotor but I was happy.

Back to the sim while I am waiting for parts to arrive.

Once you start getting good in the sim, you can turn on some wind and updrafts to make the bird harder to fly and that will hone your skills.