Unrealscript: Switching physic states of actors - what do I need to know?

Question

I'm a complete beginner to UDK who's been doing two months of reading now. I'm working on a project with UDK and here's the deal.

I've two controllers, one player and one AI, which are both meant to represent birds. I want to be able to get them to switch between flying and walking (or PHYS_Flying and PHYS_Walking).

I want the AI to be flying when I call a function, and the player to be flying when they press a button (i.e. when they jump). I want them to be walking when they are 'on' the ground, though I am not sure how to register this.

EDIT I'm sorry, I was not very precise. Perhaps if I can add more clarity, here is the template for my player controller.

state Flying
{
 function ProcessMove()
 {
   Pawn.SetPhysics(PHYS_FLYING);
 }

 function PlayerMove()
 {
     //moveUp
     //map 's' to move down
 }

 function Tick()
 {
   if(Pawn.Location = Ground)
   {
     GoToState('Walking');
   }
}

state Walking
{
  function Fly()
  {
    GoToState('Flying');
  }
}

Would this work? What would I need to change to make this work?

That's still not very precise, but it's all I can do for now.

I have the blueprint nailed in my head, and I know things like states, events, Tick, SetPhysics() and the Unreal Wiki (namely http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/Legacy:Actor/Movement). But I suppose it's a condition of Asperger's Syndrome that I feel very hesitant and uncomfortable with actually putting them into a program. It's frustrating; I know exactly what I want to say, but I'm too awkward with the syntax to say it properly. An example of how it can be done is what I'm hoping for, I suppose.

I have a really tight deadline (March 21st), so any help you could give would mean a lot!