My vote is for the Sky Fly, it was my first capable rc plane. This is what I used to learn orientation. I understand its for a six year old but if you get good at it you can hand the controls over to him. Its a very good flying plane, it will take off from the gorund with the right condtions or you can hand launch it. Its also very durable, I crashed mines a bunch and it kept going. But if you do break something parts are cheap, a new wing is only $10. It comes with a home charger and a car charger, and the controller has a built in beginner flying setting. If you give to much rudder input it automatically adds elevator to help keep you airborne. Ive moved onto to nitro planes now but would definitly get another to play around with or let a friend try. Here's a link to it: [link]http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKLV7&P=ML[/link] If you create a account with towerhobbies they usually send out discount codes. You could probably pick it up for $89 plus shipping with a $10 off code.