Bought my son a Firebird XL RC plane a couple of years ago.
While it does fly, and you can control it (after a fashion),
it is in general a disappointment. You control climb or
descent with throttle, and turn with the ruddervators (which
are non-differential). The control inputs to accomplish the
desired results bear little resemblance to what pilots of
real airplanes are accustomed to. About the only good things
I can say about it are that it is relatively cheap and and
able to withstand repeated crashes.

I would recommend that anyone looking for a satisfactory RC
model look elsewhere. I think that the additional cost to get
a model with full controls is money well spent.

A good place to start looking is www.hobby-lobby.com

David Johnson