Just as no good airline pilot would ever fly a plane without first preflighting it, so too, no good modeler would fly without a preflight. If you come to the flying field, grab your plane and go fly, you are asking for trouble!
The things that should be checked out to ensure an enjoyable day at the field:
1) Check the soundness of your plane. Cracks and misalignments are a good
indicator of something wrong!
2) Check those batteries! Just because they were on charge overnight it doesn’t
mean they are fully charged. Dirty contacts in your charging system will cause
big problems. The charger will indicate charging but no power is going into
your batteries. Also, old batteries can do you in. Always use a voltmeter with
a load to check your batteries. Old or not properly charged batteries may act
good for a short time but will drop voltage fast. Your transmitter has a meter
and you can check your power from time to time. However, your receiver is another
matter! You don’t want to be into a flight, lose power and make a sacrifice
to the Sod God.
3) For those flying with computer radios, make sure your transmitter is tuned
to the plane you are flying. After you launch it’s too late. Also check
the receiver antenna to make sure it’s stretched out to the proper length.
A wadded up antenna will put you down fast.
4) Now comes my favorite troublemaker. At the field, we launch mostly to the
south and old Sol is a killer. Get those sunglasses on. But not just any old
pair of glasses will do. Get a good quality pair. Those $1.98 specials won’t
get it. They have a lot of visual distortion in them and while they’ll
work at the beach, they won’t get it at the field. I have lost 2 planes
due to using a cheap pair because I couldn’t find my good ones and misjudged
distance in both cases. Just don’t do it unless you want a new model!
Flying is supposed to be a fun thing so why go out and make it a disaster?