When I first started I made the mistake of buying one of those small electric flyers...worst mistake I could make. It was a dog to fly and now looking back I cannot understand why they sell them to folks starting out. It has got to discourage people from flying. This may not be an issue with all the trainer style electric planes, but the one I had was terrible for learning. I wound up buying an Alpha and joining a club which was a much better move. I wished I had saved my money and not bought the electric but that is history now.

I did buy a flight simulator when I was starting out and that helped some as well. There seems to be no real formula for flying RC planes, but if I could advise, it would be to go get with a good instructor with a trainer plane like the Alpha 40 or similar. There are a lot of great trainers on the market. Take your time and learn the ins and outs of the hobby. I think this is more critical than most would lead you to believe.

Learn as much as possible right here on RCU. This has been a great store-house of knowledge allbeit sometimes you gotta learn to wade through the muck to pick up the pearls here (Like you gotta get this plane with this motor to really rock, or my OS engine is better than your Saito, and general muck like that)

The only real drawback I can see in RC planes is it is RIDICULOUS pricey! It is nothing to tie up some serious cash. I started out thinking I might only spend 500 - 800 or so. Man, that was about 2000 dollars or more ago! And believe me I am VERY frugle with my coins so I did not spend what one less saavy might have!

Whatever you do have a lot of fun because this is a great and fun hobby. I am not into planes like I was as a little boy and yet I really enjoy flying RC and I am in my mid fifties. I am usually the first or one of the first guys always at the field so that speaks for itself. They say I am die-hard, but I bought my planes to fly and not sit on benches in the shop all the time.

I hear guys say they have a dozen planes at home and all that and I am thinking that you can only fly one at a time. I wonder how many of them they really fly. I know one guy at our field that probably does fly about a dozen throughout the year, but the rest of the guys usually fly no more than 6 different planes throughout the entire year.