Right now, I am still in the development/idea/research phase of my project, as I will be attempting this major project in the summer of 2013. Now I am trying to figure out where to go, but there are so many topics and manuals I don't know where to start! Here's what I want to do: I want to have an Arduino and some of the other components needed, but I want to take an RC plane that I can buy online, assemble the components and program the Arduino to fly where I want. I just want some experience in EE and programming robotics and this seems to be an awesome way to do it.

Any help or a path that somebody can make to point me in the right direction?!