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For the new enthusiast and even RC veterans, there is a phenomenal variety of different RC planes from which to either specialise or just select for interest. Including rotary wing RC planes (helicopters) the two main categories are battery or fuel powered engine types.

Starting with the electric powered RC planes and helicopters, these are usually in advanced stages of assembly, light-weight and can withstand hard or unplanned' landings and most crashes. The polystyrene airframes and wings are relatively easy to repair if damaged and the low-cost packages are perfect for learning to fly RC planes.

The helicopters are surprisingly easy to fly because they rely primarily on thrust to rise and descend, and turning is not difficult thanks to a simplified left-right joystick on a two-channel transmitter. These RC models are commonly made of plastic with clip-on parts that can easily repair the helicopter after all but the most violent of impacts with the ground. In the upper range, the RC electric powered helicopters are quite complex machines that will require training or considerable flight knowledge to successfully fly. The RC hand-sets are upwards of 4-channel and would include pitch on the main rotors as well as turn/bank capability.

The fuel-powered helicopters are more powerful, cost more and easily damaged in inexperienced hands. In the hands of an expert, the high-end models that can easily cost $10 000 or more can perform manoeuvres that a real aircraft would not such as inverted hover for extended durations as well as tight banked turns where the G-forces experienced in a real helicopter might even be high enough to kill a real pilot. (Assuming a real airframe would withstand the forces without flying apart first)

Different types of RC helicopter range from the almost scale-prefect replicas of a real aircraft through to some imaginative and unusual types. As with real helicopters, you can select from wheeled landings, skids or floats to enable water landings.

RC planes in the electric engine class are impressive performers for their simplicity. A basic $40 kit is literally ready to fly out of the box once you fit a charged battery, and they are so easy to fly. These are ones you can use in public spaces without endangering yourself or bystanders unless of course you are completely reckless or deliberately try to hit someone. They will usually have two engines that enable climb and dive by using engine thrust, and turning by varying thrust in either one of

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