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Very cool! I've always wanted to do this since I was a kid. It looks like it's getting a bit more affordable now? Some guy locally on the radio was saying he has a PC program his radio plugs into and he can practice flying without breaking anything. I assume flying "backwards" while the plane isn't pointed away from you would be hard to learn.

It has, if you're not sure you want to get into it, but would like something easy to fly out of the box, get an Aerobird Commander 2(It was my first plane), or the Aerobird Freedom(like the commander 2, but has 3 channels). Either of them should run under $150, and they come with everything you need to fly. There is one downside to the Aerobird planes, you can't take the electronics and move them to another plane

My SS cost $35 for the airframe and motor, then $250 for the radio and the rest of the parts to make it fly, but I can move the rest of the parts over to other planes as needed. And most of the parts will survive a major crash, so I'd just be buying another SS...With the exception of the LiPo battery which can get damaged more easily than a NiCd or NiMh battery.

Yup, there are sims out there where you can just plug in a radio to the computer, and fly that. The whole "backwards" flying isn't an issue once you get used to it, you'll quickly get used to turned based on the plane instead of youself.

Oh, if you want to go the real cheap way out, go to a Toy's R Us, and buy an AeroAce biplane, $30, and it's the only one in the Airhogs line that flys worth a crap, and they take a lot of punnishment.