pit91,

Welcome to the world of RC and RCU. You'll soon find there is a wealth of information just waiting for questions to be asked to overwelm you with information.

First, what ever you do and just like full scale aviation, don't try to teach your self to fly - it'll only end in disaster. Seek out a club and instructor to teach you how to fly.

Yes, a sail plane can make an excellent trainer as it will fly very slowly. Also, depending where in Florida you live you'll find you can learn to thermal and spend many hours enjoying silent flight. I used to live in Port Orange, just south of Daytona Beach, and flew quite a bit at a development that was all but abandoned along with a private farm and spent may hours thermaling. Mornings and evenings where calm, and the thermals popped up midday to late afternoon.

You have to think about what your after - powered or silent flight. Powered flight is by far the most popular. I'd recommend you talk to your local hobby shop (LHS) to find out what clubs are in your area, and also join AMA. Your LHS should be able to guide you to a club, and may know of one that is a glider club, but they will be harder to find. While power will be more expensive, you'll have and easier time finding an instructor and can find out what type of trainer is prefered in you area. You can also talk to a club and see if anybody has a trainer up for sale which can save you some money. Also if you learn to fly power, you'll find it a piece of cake (no pun intended as there is a glider known as a Piece O' Cake) to learn to run a glider up a high start or winch.

As far as the cost is concerned, power flight will cost more to get into. But you will also be able to do more aerobatics that a glider can't do since it's unpowered. Don't worry too much about the cost right now, but do some homework and visit some clubs first. There are also a lot of clubs that have a trainer that you can get an introductory flight on, and possibly some instruction before you do get your own trainer.

As far as a trainer goes, I like the NextStar and it's available in an almost ready to fly with a .46 nitro engine, Futaba radio and a flight sim for the computer. Downside is it will run you about $400.00, plus you'll have to get a flight box and support equipment. Figure about $500.00 or so to get started with all new equipment. Sorry, I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but RC is not the cheapest hobby to get into. On the up side, you'll have the radio and engine for you follow-on planes and the expense will be quite a bit less. For electrics I really can't help you there as I don't fly them.

Hogflyer