tlcDennis,

firebirds Fighterbirds, and Air surfers are in my opinion not worth the money if your goal is to learn how to fly R/C planes and PLAN on progressing to different types of planes.

Do a search on firebird fighterbird hear and on Ezonemag.com (the specialize in e-flight).

If I was looking for an inexpensive small electric I Would look at the GWS Tigermoth, Pico Stik or Slow Stik. These planes fly and are controlled in the same manner as more traditional R/C aircraft they also allow you to transfer the gear from one model to the next. The downside is that all the equipment you will need to get started will cost more the either of the planes you mentioned however if you stick with it the intial cost can be spread over several models