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Can you still buy the handset that you could plug into the PC to practice?

Absolutely, that's a very popular thing these days, in fact from my understanding it's almost mandatory if you want to learn how to "not crash" in a nondestructive way.

(I don't fly RC, but I've got friends who do copters.)

I seem to recall that there are interfaces which allow you to plug your real-life controller into your PC and run the simulator, so that you're practicing on your actual real control panel.
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Tony Fabris