Remote-controlled (RC) planes offer an exciting and immersive experience for aviation enthusiasts of all ages.
If you’re a beginner looking to take your first step into the world of RC planes, it’s essential to choose a model that is easy to fly, durable, and forgiving of beginner mistakes. We know that with so many great models on the market, it can be difficult to identify which is the best plane for you.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the best beginner RC planes available on Amazon, and also answer some of the key questions that you might have when starting out. This will hopefully give you a great starting point for your aerial adventures.
So, what’s the best RC plane for a beginner?
Best Options At A Glance
Product Summaries
HAWK'S WORK F-22 2 Channel RC Airplane
- Brand - HAWK'S WORK
- Dimensions - 44 x 31.8 x 11 cm
- Weight - 450 g
- Material - Foam
- Special Feature - Self-stabilization System
Firstly we have the HAWK’S WORK F-22 2 Channel RC Airplane . It’s currently selling for £48/$61 on Amazon.
This plane is great for beginners for a few reasons. The foam structure is both lightweight and durable, meaning that’s it resistant to bumps and crashes while you’re still learning the ropes. It also has an innovative self-stabilisation system that makes it even easier to fly, so you should feel fairly confident after a couple of hours of practice.
The 2.5Ghz radio control system is also great for beginners. The remote allows you to manoeuvre the plane in 4 directions – up, down, left and right. It also prevents any signal interference if you want to fly with a friend.
HAWK’S WORK also offer a warranty as standard. This consists of 1 year warranty for the aircraft itself as well as a 3 year warranty for the battery. You can contact them via Amazon message if there’s any non-human issue.
This plane is a great choice for beginners who are looking for an affordable aircraft to get started with radio control planes.
Buy the HAWK’S WORK F-22 2 Channel RC Airplane from Amazon for only £48/$61:
POWERUP 4.0 The Next-Gen Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane
- Brand - POWERUP
- Dimensions - 19.1 x 1.8 x 3.8 cm
- Weight - 19 g
- Material - Paper
- Special Feature - Smartphone Control
Next we have the POWERUP 4.0 Next-Gen Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane. It’s currently selling for £69/$87 on Amazon.
This innovative plane system from POWERUP allows you to create a range of different RC paper planes using a frame and motor system that you can control using your smartphone. It’s different from other planes on this list, offering a unique and highly customisable RC experience.
The body is comprised of a heavy duty carbon fibre body as well as a nylon reinforced nose and motor mount. It’s more than capable of withstanding a bump or crash.
It can reach top speeds of up to 20mph depending on your chose body, and the rapid charging means that 30 minutes of charging gives you 10 minutes of flight time.
One of the most impressive features is the smartphone app. Not only does this let you control the basic movements of your plane, but it also gives you access to advanced aerobatics (loops, barrel rolls etc.), allows you to analyse flight metrics to improve your pilot skills, and track your plane to ensure that it never gets lost.
If you’re looking for a highly customisable RC plane that’s great for beginners, this kit from POWERUP is unique and full of great features.
Buy The POWERUP 4.0 Next-Gen Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane from Amazon for only £69/$87:
Top Race 4 Channel RTF RC Plane
- Brand - Top Race
- Dimensions - 34.3 x 33.8 x 12.8 cm
- Weight - 454 g
- Material - Foam
- Special Feature - Flight Modes
Next we have the Top Race 4 Channel RC Plane. It’s currently selling for £100/$127 on Amazon.
Top Race are fairly well known in the RC space, and this 4 channel plane lives up to the name.
The controls for this plane provide a great balance of realism and accessibility for beginners. You can control the rudder, elevation and aileron mechanisms, giving you all of the adjustment that you would have in a real plane. It also has a 300 ft control range when using the standard transmitter.
To ensure the system is still beginner friendly, Top Race have included 3 flying levels based on the experience of the pilot: beginner, intermediate, and expert. Depending on the level that you select, you will get varying levels of assistance from the gyro stabilisation system. For example, the gyro will kick in more often in beginner mode to guarantee a steady and controlled flight. In expert mode, the pilot will be given much more freedom to allow them to carry out stunts and aerial manoeuvres.
This RC plane kit from Top Race 4 is a great choice if you’re looking to get into RC aircraft for £100.
Buy the Top Race 4 Channel RC Plane on Amazon for only £100/$127:
VOLANTEXRC RC Plane P40
- Brand - Volantex
- Dimensions - 40 x 31.7 x 10 cm
- Weight - 261 g
- Material - Expanded Polypropylene Foam, Plastic
- Special Feature - Xpilot Gyro
Another great RC plane is the VOLANTEXRC RC Plane P40 . It’s currently selling for £130/$165 on Amazon.
This is another great RC plane for beginners thanks to the innovative three level flight control assistance. These levels include Beginner Full Assist, Intermediate Part Assist, and Manual Control Expert. As the names suggest, these different levels give you varying degrees of automatic flight assistance – this is ideal for beginner RC pilots.
Another interesting feature is the Xpilot gyro stabilizer system. This is another inclusion that makes it far easier to achieve consistently stable flying, even if you’re a newer RC pilot. It’s a helpful feature regardless of your experience level.
It has an impressive radio control distance of 656 feet, so it’s unlikely that you’ll have to worry about flying out of range. Volantex’s anti-interference technology also allows you to fly with friends at distance preventing any potential issues with signal interference.
The P40 from Volantex is an ideal RC plane if you’re looking for a model with detailed flight assistance controls.
Buy the VOLANTEXRC RC Plane P40 from Amazon for only £130/$165:
FAQs
These acronyms describe what is required to get an RC plane ready for flight.
RTF means Ready-To-Fly. These planes will have everything you need to get started right out of the box, making them perfect for beginners. Some RTF planes may be described as RTFB, which means Ready-To-Fly Basic – these planes come with everything you need excluding batteries and chargers (RTFB planes are becoming increasingly common as suppliers face shipping issues with lithium polymer batteries).
BNF means Bind-N-Fly. BNF planes comes with everything you need except a transmitter. These products allow you to choose an RC transmitter of your choice and “bind” it to your plane. Similarly to RTF planes, BNF planes can also be sold as BNFB kits, or Bind-N-Fly Basic kits, meaning they’re not supplied with chargers or batteries.
PNP stands for Plug-N-Play. These planes come with everything you need apart from a transmitter, receiver, charger and battery.
ARF planes are Almost-Ready-To-Fly. These planes need some additional items before you can start flying. This may include a motor or engine, a receiver, servos, batteries or even cosmetic items like glue. The assembly requirements make these kits better suited for experience RC hobbyists as opposed to beginners.
Kits are the most basic form of RC modelling. They’re usually supplied with sheets of raw material that are either laser cut or die cut as well as a plan that explains how they can be glued together to form a model. They usually require additional items like a motor or engine, a spinner, switches, servos, batteries and glue. You may also need tools like screwdrivers, knives and sandpaper to achieve a clean finish.
RC planes and drones usually have slightly different purposes.
Drones are often used for practical applications like cinematography, surveillance, or health and safety inspections. They often have modes with that allow the drone to fly with minimum input from the operator, letting the operator focus on the video feed rather than the movements of the drone.
RC planes on the other hand are usually bought by hobbyists who enjoy the flying experience. This makes them much more reliant on input on the user, as the movement of the plane itself is the focus of the experience.
It’s difficult to say which is better, but as a general rule drones are better suited for practical applications, and RC planes are better suited for hobbyists.
There’s loads of great RC planes on the market, but the Top Race 4 Channel RC Plane is a great all-rounder. It provides a solid balance of affordability, power and user control.
If you want something that’s a little bit cheaper, the ONMDQS Su57 Remote Control Plane is both reasonably priced and extremely durable. It’s safe to say that durability is an important factor for your first plane!
RC planes usually have max flight time between 20 and 45 minutes, but this is largely dependant on the style of plane.
Some beginner multi-rotor planes with small batteries may only be able to fly for around 10 minutes, whereas multi-rotor models with larger batteries may achieve flight times around 30 to 45 minutes. High-quality fixed wing RC planes may be able to fly for as long as 90 minutes on a single charge thanks to the power saved through gliding. This helps to demonstrate the fact that there’s no straightforward answer for RC plane flight times, as every model is different.
Thanks for reading our article. If you’re interested in remote controlled vehicles, you may want to take a look at our article covering the Best Tamiya RC Cars 2023.
Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any thoughts or queries that you’d like us to take a look at – we’d be happy to help.
