I can't really tell you why Hobbico designed the Sky Fly the way they did, but I can guess its designed to keep the price down, but at the same time offer a good flying plane. The tube that runs from the body back to the tail serves two purposes, the main one being that it connects the body to the tail section and the second purpose is that it has string that runs through it which moves the elevator and rudder. The Sky Fly is just a basic airplane, nothing fancy, and thats why it costs so much less than some of the other planes on here. But don't let looks fool you because this plane is very capable and fun to fly once you get the hang of flying a plane. You might want to also consider the SKY FLY 2, this second version came out about six months after I got the original SKY FLY. The biggest difference that I saw was that the SKY FLY I have uses string and rubber bands to move the elevator and rudder, it gets the job done, but its not the best way to do it. Even before they came out with the second version I was thinking to myself they should improve it, and they did with the second version. Instead of string and rubberbands they use a solid piece of plastic to move the rudder and elevator. This plastic piece is called a pushrod and is similar to what you find on more expensive planes, the only difference is that the pushrods are most likely going to be metal instead of plastic on the larger planes. The SKY FLY 2 costs $10 more than the original. Its $109 on towerhobbies. Heres a link to it: [link]http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUVS3**&P=ML[/link]

And to answer your other question about if the controller/ transmitter can be reused. The answer is yes and no, the one that comes with the Sky FLy is a 3 channel transmitter, so you can reuse it on any plane that needs a 3 channel transmitter, but if you ever decide to get further into the hobby and want a more capable plane that has ailerons, elevators, and rudder. Then you will need at least a 4 channel transmitter.