" . . .start by reading as much as I can about how planes are supposed
to work . . ."

Sounds like you never had to do it for the money. Like I have said
over and over here, many of you folks worry too much, spend way too much
time buying crap, and too little time actually messing stuff up---and I
mean that in the positive way: GET TO WORK, as often and as long as you
can. So many questions I see here are answered by themselves by just
DOING IT.