The best place to start learning is either a hardwod gym or lanolium (sp?) floor, or what I have found works quite well too. I take my tramp and take all the legs off with the map attached to the springs like someone were going to jump on it. This works really well because the tramp absorbs some of the harder landings, and it also slides, instead of tipping over. It's also really great because the air goes through the tramp which really lessens GE. One thing to note is that you want to set it down in plenty of time so it doesn't slide into the springs. Also watch the wind when you fly it outside, especially until you can hover pretty well. If the blades have a low angle of attack, the wind will force the heli to the ground, and if it has a high angle (blade tips above level in the direction of the wind) it will cause the heli to go up.

As far as where you can fly it, that's on the bigger end of where you need to fly it. It would probably be good to start out there, and then you can go from there.

I was in the same boat as you... with how much people talked about how hard the CP or Pro was, and that if you could fly it you could fly anything... I was really intimidated... I almost got the CX2, and if I would have, I would have gotten really bored really fast. It's all up to you and what you can handle.

Get yourself a controller and practice with FMS for orientation, just do it with the realization that FMS is not realistic, and just bceause you can do something in FMS, likely you cannot do it with a real heli. Just take it slow and follow Radds... if you need the link I'm sure we can get it for you.

I took pics of the two controllers I use. The playstation style was about $20 bucks, and I actually bought that as an after thought because I wanted to play a helicopter game that required a button for action (indoor rc helicopter =P, cheesy game, but I love it =). The other controller is an esky USB controller, that is basically an ESKY Tx setup to hook up with the computer.

In the near future I am going to have a post for a flight sim cable for the e-flight 6ch Tx.... I have one and it is working and fairly simple to make.

Hopefully that answers a few q's... if you have more don't hesitate to ask

I just realized I forgot to attach the pic =P

One other thing is the PS style controller does not have a very accurate throttle. You have to hold it where you want it instead of just setting it like a normal aircraft Tx.