The Parkzone FW-190 is a good, high quality plane that flies well. It is too fast for a new pilot to start with, however. tIANci's suggestions of starting him off with a Multiplex Easy Star or GWS E-Starter are good ones. Another good starter plane is the Parkzone Slo-V. The Slo-V is a terrific slow-flying aircraft that is ready-to-fly out of the box. A beginning pilot can keep up with it, and it can even be flown indoors in a gymnasium when the weather won't let you fly outside.

Once your father-in-law has gotten comfortable flying around the Slo-V or Easy Star, moving up to a Parkzone warbird like the Mustang, Spitfire, or FW-190 won't be such a challenging step up.