Welcome to the world of RC flying!!!! Trust me, the FIRST time you get a plane in the air and you're behind the sticks, the RUSH is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE !!!!!! It's a feeling you'll NEVER forget!!!! I've been wanting to fly RC since I was about 8 years old, and now 30 years later, I've finally gotten the chance thanks to the incredible generosity of my father-in-law who gave me his flight box (with the chargers, starters, tools, etc...), a .60 Sr. Falcon plane, a Futaba transmitter + reciever, and several other peripheral items. Then a friend hooked me up with a Tower Trainer .60 , so now I guess I'm in the game and I'm thrilled to death [8D]

It's WORTH THE WAIT! Flying is a heck of a challenge. It takes control, precision, ATTENTION TO DETAIL! (you have NO idea how many planes go "lawn dart" due to neglecting to do a thorough preflight check!). It's exciting, has ENDLESS possibilities, and the flying styles are as various as the pilots that fly them. You're going to LOVE it! You'll find your niche' after you get the "trainers" mastered, and then you'll be ripping up the skies in anything you can afford!

And I can tell you from experience, the people who fly RC planes are the NICEST, most generous, and HELPFUL people you will ever meet ANYWHERE. It's like a "Brotherhood of the Air" that you'll have to experience to really understand. Just keep an open mind, LEARN all you can in advance (this board is GREAT for that), and STUDY anything you can find about how RC airplanes "work" and "control surface" effects (like how the attitude of a plane from your POV is going to move when you twitch the stick! That's REAL important! Trust me!!!! on my "Virgin Flight", I managed to put my plane in a PERFECT 3 point landing > about 60' up in the top of a pine tree [:@] )

If you'd like to get a LITTLE bit of a head start, download a simulator called "FMS" (get version 2.8 > it will run on just about ANY PC) you can find it on google. OR even better yet, go to www.towerhobbies.com and look for the FMS simulator (I think called "E-Fly" bundled with a "fake controller" with the twin sticks.) Simulators are NOT perfect! The planes are set up for PERFECT CG balance, PERFECT trim, and PERFECT wind conditions; all of which, if you fly 100 times, you MIGHT get lucky enough to get ONCE BUT what it will do is teach you HOW a plane turns and reacts from different Point-of-Views (coming toward you, going away from you, going perpendicular, etc...). The best part of FMS is that it's FREE! If you don't want to spend the $25 on the "bundle" with the controller and you happen to have a PC joystick with twin-thumb sticks, it will work pretty well (it's what I'm stuck with at the momement, but I've still learned ALOT! I went from crashing the sim EVERY TIME to making "decent" landings in just a couple of weeks of messing around).

You are also about to embark on what CAN be a SERIOUS MONEY PIT !!!!!!! One good crosswind gust on landing, and SPLAT!!! you get to learn to rebuilt your plane (and that isn't always cheap ) Play it smart and start with a GOOD 4 channel trainer (there are a BUNCH of them out there > there's a list at the top of the page that lists a gaggle of them). Then find a GOOD instructor with a "buddy cable" > basically this links YOUR controller to HIS "master" controller, so if you get into trouble, he can pull you out and save your plane (hopefully!) It sounds like your dad can really help you out in this matter, LISTEN, TAKE ADVICE, and LEARN ALL YOU CAN! The MORE you learn, the LESS likely you are to crash due to "rookie mistakes" (that does NOT mean you won't crash [] )

And here's something to ALWAYS remember: there are 2 kinds of RC pilots: (1) Those who have crashed and (2) Those who haven't crashed YET

Good luck on your adventures in flight! Pay attention to this board, there are alot of really GOOD pilots here that will help you and answer just about ANY question you have. (and get all the flying and buying in BEFORE you get married > it's MUCH simpler than explaining why you had to spend $60 on new servos or $75 on a new flight battery Trust us married folk on this one!!!)