Get on aim!!
www.rangevideo.com has video TXs and RXs, look for the 900mhz 500mw TX and a RX
30 minutes in the air is impossible on a heli under $1000. To get longer flight times you'll have to go bigger.. and thousands more dollars. Most RC helicopters do about 5-10 minutes, but they sacrifice flight time for performance. You could stick on another battery to get maybe 15 minutes, maybe 20... but the bigger sized heli you go with, the better the flight times you will get.
Range will be no problem, dont worry since basically all hobby grade RC systems can go fore more than one mile.
X-UFO is a good platform to start on, you have to learn to fly before making anything with it and after youve learned on that you can hack it a little, but with nimh batteries and brushed motors, you won't get too far.
Also collective pitch normal helicopters are more stable than quadrocopters which use fixed pitch
The quads just look more stable because they have gyroscopes to stabilize - standard helicopters don't because people want to 3d with them.
