A lot of people are under the impression that radio controlled airplanes and related equipment is expensive which is not true. The Apprentice S that we use for our trainer costs around $280 ready-to-fly (RTF) which includes a transmitter, battery and charger. There have been times when the Apprentice is on sale. A fun plane to fly is the Hobby Zone Champ which comes RTF for around $90. This is a small plane so it cannot fly in a lot of wind. Another inexpensive was to get into the hobby is to build a plane made from Dollar Tree foam board. The Flite test website has free plans and also offers speed build kits. The Tiny Trainer is a good plane to start with but there are several others to chose from. Just make sure you start with a high wing plane. One thing to keep in mind is if you think you will continue to fly and buy more planes consider buying a good transmitter. Some of the later transmitter have 250 slots for plane setups. The majority of our club members use Spektrum radios. This means you only need one transmitter for all your planes. There are also cheap, quality receivers that only work with Spektrum radios. Lemon receivers are good quality and are cheaper than Spektrum receivers. There as a lot of sources for parts that can save you a lot of money. Along the way if you need help or have questions club members are always there to help.
In addition to the Apprentice there are several other planes for beginners from various vendors and there are used planes and equipment for sale at times. There are also nitro and gas powered planes but for the simplicity for a beginner I would start with an electric plane.
I have talked several people that try to learn to fly on their own, crash, and give up. I recommend you take advantage of our learn to fly program, its free.
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