First off, I'm going to say I know almost nothing about radios.

But ever since I was a little kid, I always loved aviation, and have secretly always wanted to be a pilot. The area that I live there are always airplanes passing over my area since I live not too far from an airport.

I want to buy a radio (I don't know which kind I want to buy) that I could listen to Air Traffic Control and pilots talking to the control tower. What kind of radio should I buy? (CB, scanner, HAM)?

Also, can I get some reccomendations for radio models/makers? I don't want it too be too expensive, at most $100 USD.

Thank you.

PS- Do I need any licenses to listen to aviation radio?

No, you don't want a radio, you want a scanner. Scanners are listen only, radio implies you want to talk to them, which it's not smart to distract a pilot. You can have a RadioShack or a Uniden scanner for cheap, but names like Yaesu, Kenwood, or Icom are high-end, and unless you want to drop the bucks, stay out of that range. You don't need a license to listen to anything, to the best of my knowledge, but there might be some sort of law or encryption regarding commercial traffic in this post-9/11 world

I was also wondering about somthing like this, would any scanner available to the general public (without a licence) be able to pick up on police scanners?

I was also wondering about somthing like this, would any scanner available to the general public (without a licence) be able to pick up on police radios?

Fixed. (Scanners would just be listening devices, and no they can't be tracked if that's your question.)

As for listening on police, if that's your question, it depends on your area. If they're using normal, non-encrypted communications then chances are you can listen with any normal scanner. OTOH if they're using APCO-25 with the encryption enabled, chances are you won't get the keys to listen in on them unless you work as a first responder.

Yeah the second one, thanks.