STOPnow you have seen a list of some of the stuff that you need. what you need now is a good bit of knowledge and a plan of action that is going to help you learn to fly heli's. Your going to want to do this as cost affectivly as you can.
First thing you should do is decide what you want to do.
1:Fly a heli: Are you the sort of person that is too eager to listen to good advice, That just wants to get a heli and start flying?
IF you are this person, Then my advice is to purchase a helicopter that can stand up to crashes very well. A heli that is going to allow you to fly for as long as you can handle it. A heli that will react the same way as the bigger nitro/electric heli's, that can outfly any fixed pitch heli. But most of all is going to cost you very little to Keep in parts. I personally reccomend the HOVERFLY, See
www.snelflight.co.uk
INFORMATION about this heli: It is mains powered, Very long flight times. It has an umbilical that does not interfear with its flight ability. It flies just like the other collective pitch heli's. It is safe to use in your home. It is very strong, If you shut the power off when your in trouble you can have many crashes and not need to replace a blade. Just put it all back as it should be and fly some more. IT IS THE BEST starter heli for the money out there. NO settup just open it plug the bits in and your ready to fly. IF you purchase the transmiter that the site has on offer the flight control is fantastic. I know this because I have 2 of them and teach many people to fly useing them.
2:Learn how to fly first then choose the heli you want?
IF you are this person, You should look at learning to fly useing a flight simulator. The advantages of a flight simulator are that you can start to learn to fly as soon as it is on your PC. You can learn to fly for as long as your brain can take the accute concentration. The flight simulator is not just somthing that is there for you to learn to fly with. It is there to help you throughout your flying hobby. I myself still fly my flight simulator almost every day to prctice many different stunt moves and keep in touch with my autorotations as well as my basic skills. It will allow you to fly and crash as many times as you want without costing you a penny more than its purchase cost. Something I tell all my students is to just add the cost of a set of blades + 20 bucks each time you crash. (make a note on paper) You will soon see that a flight simulator pays for itself in no time as your flying skills improve. There are a few very good flight sims on the market today the tough choice is to make your mind up weather you want one with a Dummy transmitter or you want to purchase a radio and get the simulator together. The advantage of this is you will get to learn how to use your radio and learn to fly at the same time. So when your ready and confident about your skills you can then think about the Helicopter you want to start off on. I am sure that you will be able to fly it well enough with your new found skills.
One word of advice here is to take as long as you require on the simulator and be honest to yourself. Kidding yourself will only lead to repair costs on your first helicopter. REMEMBER We all crash, I still crash today and I do this because I choose to push myself on the flying field. The difference is that I do it a LOT LESS than I would without the simulator. Mine have saved me thousands I say MINE because I have 2. One that I bought when they first became popular to use, The Easyfly/Piccofly. The second is the Reflex XTR, I use this with my FF8 futaba radio. I can use the radios features and see thier affect on the aircraft I am flying.
Simulators are excellant DON'T under estimate there importance.
3: If you want to learn, Also have a heli to fly:
DO BOTH OF THE ABOVE
If you want to fly a heli and learn on the sim try useing the hoverfly above it is like haveing a sim in your front room. Only you can actually fly and see it three Dimensionally with the added benifit of learning on your simulator. This way you can actually learn and see yourself progress for real.
Now if you have read through to this point, Well done.
The information I have given here is the best advice that I can give to anyone thinking of starting this fantastic hobby. I know it to be good advice as it is what many of my good friends and people that I teach (and have become good friends) are doing very succesfully at this presant moment.
The advice is Here now you have a choice, Use it: Don't use it:
Which ever you choose to do, Have fun and be safe.
I wish you well in this fantastic Hobby of ours, Yes that includes you.
see ya,