Check, Check, AND double check!

[retiredflyer]

I guess it's old age, (60th birthday this week) but two times I made stupid mistakes in my initial setup of two new planes. First time was several weeks ago with the maiden on my new sailplane. Had everything all set, I thought, tossed it in the air at full throttle and she immediately nosed into the pavement. I had the elevator backwards!!!! Next tiem was this morning with my new E-Flite Timber. Had everything checked, took off and she dipped to the right, I corrected and she went the WRONG way! CRAP, I had the ailerons backwards on the radio. I ALMOST crashed it 3 times doing the pattern to get her back home for a landing, but I made it with only a slightly ugly touchdown. It is HARD to fly a plane when you try to do it with backward controls....REALLY hard!
My point is, I have been flying and building planes for over 3 years and this has never happened at that point in a maiden flight. I mean, you should have this all set BEFORE you throttle up. I was actually looking at the control surfaces before takeoff this morning and watching the ailerons and saying, Yep, looks good! Well, it wasn't because I had a brain fart!
Look at your controls real close, and look at them again, and again. Save yourself some unnecessary crashes and embarrassment! (at least no one saw me today!)

[TiredIronGRB]

I setup my new Bearcat and thought I had my rates and expo all set up but I didn't...when I maidened it I was flying with full rate and no expo...it was like trying to take a badger for a walk on a leash.

[wpmay]

You really need to get in the habit of doing a preflight check of the operation of your control surfaces before EVERY takeoff. It can save a lot of heartache. :)

Bill

[dkalwishky]

wpmay has some good advice. I check the control movement before every flight, even if I am on the ground just long enough to change batteries.

[PappaBear]

Carrying out a preflight check on a model should be like carrying out a preflight check on the full size. You would not dream of flying off in the real thing without going through a preflight check list for the particular aircraft you are going to fly.

An R/C Model is no different. When you arrive at the field, check the model for damage that may have happened on the way. Did the model move in your car and perhaps move one of the control surfaces? It could have damaged a servo gear. Check the control horns and all linkages for wear and damage. Check everything for proper security, including the flight battery. Makes sure it can't move in flight resulting in a CG change and perhaps a crash. Check the TX, did you make adjustments at home and forget to reset the trims for example. Check all flight controls for correct movement and direction.

The TX is turned on and the battery is connected, all the controls operate in the correct direction. Ready to take off right. WRONG. At this point you should always carry out a control surface test at FULL POWER with the model restrained by a helper or a stake in the ground. Each and every time you take off you should always carry out a full power test. Doing this could show a intermittent fault on a servo or ESC, and it's better to find out before you let the model go than it is as the model reaches fifteen feet and something fails. It wouldn't be the first it has happened.

While running a motor up to full power do not stand in front of or inline with the prop in case it throws a blade or comes off in one piece. If a prop comes off a motor it will always go forward because of the pitch. I could tell so many horror stories about serious injuries and propellers. Always stand behind the model when carrying out these tests.

I hope the above helps you and reminds you all the carry out a preflight check. It's a good idea to have a check list to go through every time you fly. It may sound boring and unnecessary. But I can assure you it isn't, it can save your model on more than one occasion.

Martin

[CZ Flyer]

GUILTY!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I hate to admit) Last year I maidened my Carbon Z Cub with as dx5e and took off with reversed ailerons! Fortunately I was being extreeeeemely light on the controls and was able to "think backwards" long enough for my dad to rush over & flip the reverse switch on the transmitter.. Saved it! Since then I upgraded to a dx6i and ALWAYS ALWAYS do a pre flight check.

[seaviper]

Yep. Just treat it as full scale and do a walk around. We all make mistakes. The trick is to catch and fix them before it's too late. Good post.

[TiredIronGRB]

I always do a preflight check of control surfaces and gear but I forget rates sometimes.

[F106DeltaDart]

I also always try to do a preflight, especially if I just changed something on the airplane. But, it is easy to get distracted if you are talking to freinds at the same time. After I changed out the aileron servos on my Durafly Spitfire, I completely missed that check. It didn't help that I was flying at 7:00 am, and was up until 1:00am working on the servo change out. Pilot fatigue can be a big factor! I got about 20 ft off, and rolled it nose into the runway, and spent the next 2 weeks rebuilding it.

[Grossman56]

As you may recall, I learned from the school of hard knocks as well, with reversed ailerons on Pandora One's maiden flight a couple of years back. I was lucky and she was repairable. I had a few other minor incidents by forgetting something on a preflight, so now, my checks are pretty comprehensive and I usually find nothing wrong, but every once in a while...The biggest thing I find is retracts are intermittent, FMS is famous for this in my house. So I treat a preflight as exactly that and check all control surfaces before each flight and not just at the beginning of the day.
With a new plane, I take it over to the school parking lot and taxi it around and around, over bumps and whatever, to shake it up and then check it over again after taxiing it home. Looking for anything that has worked its way loose. Better to find it on the ground than in the air.

Grossman56

[dkalwishky]

I suppose checking moving parts to make sure they are tight is a good thing. Flew the Spitfire tonight, enjoyed it. I started to taxi to the runway for flight two and as I powered up to spinner shot forward about three feet. I'll get a new bolt tomorrow and fly again.

[PappaBear]

Many years ago, before the days of servo reversing switches, I had a Sig Piper Cub. I believe it was a 1/5 scale model. However I took it out for the first first and while checking the controls I noticed the ailerons were reversed. So I spent over an hour rearranging the servo and the linkage so I could reverse the ailerons. This completed and ready for the first flight. As I went through the control check a flying buddy said "Hold on, you have the ailerons reversed". Grrrrrrrrr. I had them working correctly in the first place, so now I had to reverse the procedure again. At this point I took the model home and done it there.

Martin

[danloc78]

When my instructor was teaching me to fly at first we used my plane. I buddy boxed and everything was going along great. Then he wanted me to get a sense for how the BF-109 handled, because it was completely different. So he set a few things on both transmitters and he took it off. He gave me the controls when it was good and high, but the ailerons on the BUDDY BOX were reversed. I knew something was wrong, but I had just watched him fly it for a full minute, so I was second-guessing myself. He thought I was having a hard time controlling it because it is a more advanced plane. He said a few times 'much more difficult, huh??'. Finally after a few seconds I realized that the ailerons were definitely reversed on my transmitter only. At first he didn't believe me, but I insisted he take control back and land it so we could figure it out on the ground.

We had a good laugh later on, but if you're gonna buddy box...check the control surfaces using BOTH transmitters BEFORE taking off! :)

[Grossman56]

I suppose checking moving parts to make sure they are tight is a good thing. Flew the Spitfire tonight, enjoyed it. I started to taxi to the runway for flight two and as I powered up to spinner shot forward about three feet. I'll get a new bolt tomorrow and fly again.

Interesting, Ryan lost his Spitfire Spinner and Nefi in mid flight. I'm wondering whether a bit of Foam Tac might me a good idea on the bolt

Grossman56

[dkalwishky]

On the threads or on the bolt head?

[Grossman56]

I'm thinking on the threads

Grossman56