Just wondering if anyone here has a remote control airplane and if so how hard are they to learn to fly?
My folks got Patrick a little plane that you charge up with two "AA" batteries and I was really surprised at how well it flies, but you have no control over the plane. You turn it on and throw it in the air and watch it go.

I had a remote plane years ago. I put $500 into it (a trainer) took 2 months to build, and only flew it about 4 times (wrecked it 2 times).
Seriously, I put it together from a Balsa-wood Kit and it was a lot of work to build. I think they have easier kits now, and they come out with all the correct angles/settings pre-cut/pre-adjusted/pre-everything and should not be too hard to put together.
As to flying..... I flew mine 4 different day's, the 1 time I flew it by myself, without a group of other people flying, I just about totaled it. I then went to R/C Boats (they don't drop out of the sky if you make a mistake). Other People fly them and it was lots of fun when I flew, but I lack something in the up/down catagory for flying.

I have two of them. They are a blast, and are not really that hard to fly. You can get a trainer, like this (http://www.towerhobbies.com/products/towa1100.html) for about $300. Nearly all planes are made out of wood, and will probably be totaled if you end up putting it nose first into the ground. But there is something better and cheaper. Check out this site: http://www.spadtothebone.com/ You can build a plane out of gutter pipe and corrugated plastic (like the realty signs) for about $25. (figure about $200 for radio and engine). I have seen them in action, and they are pretty much indestructible. You can have a pretty hard crash and be back up in the air in about 5 minutes. I will be building one this summer.

Oh wow this thread has been so helpful. I was just going to post to see if anyone had experience with RC airplanes. I'm looking to get into it and that trainer looked like a good place to start. I might just buy it.

You can go really cheap and fun with a park flyer class of plane. They are made of styrofoam and take about and hour to get up and flying. The plane should cost around 70 bucks. Then you have to buy a controller and servos. I've got a Piper Cub. Park flyers fly slow so they're real easy to learn on. They're durable as hell and easy to fix. At my last job five or six of us had them and we would dog fight them at lunch. There were many kills and collisions. It was an absolute blast. The only problem with them is they require NO wind if you want to have any control at all.