The first article was about how important a pre-flight is. I do hope some of it made sense to you and that you will follow some of the guidelines.

No matter what type of R/C aircraft you fly, there are some basic rules that you should follow. One would be to remain safe and keep everyone around you safe.  When I was flying R/C Helicopters, I was starting my Hirobo Shuttle and the throttle was a bit higher than idle. The torque of the engine starting made the helicopter tail rotor spin in my direction and my instint was to put my hand there to stop it. Well 15 stiches later I realized that was not the smartest move. From that point on, I was extra careful to make that throttle position check the last thing I did before starting an engine. Currently I fly mostly electric powered aircraft and again, before I turn on the transmitter, I check the throttle position.

If you have followed the basic pre-flight checks and are ready to take off, remember you get more lift going into the wind then with it. Always try to take off directly into the wind. 

A few steps to becoming a better pilot

Every R/C Pilot, no matter how long they have been flying has made an error that has cost them an aircraft or time to repair an aircraft.

Having been in this hobby for over 40 years I have seen many a plane hit the dirt, including my own. Most times the cause is evident, PILOT ERROR! Usually the pilot is so happy to be at the field flying that they get sloppy and this causes them to make simple mistakes. Those mistakes can cause them an airplane.

At an R/C Air show I attended, the midday demonstration was a Giant Scale aerobatic plane. The pilot had flown in front of crowds many times and was an excellent pilot. He taxied out, made his take off run and as the plane lifted off he realized that something was not right. His plane went into the dirt! After he checked out the pieces, he realized that he had forgotten to plug in the aileron servos and thus had no aileron control. The excitement of the show evidently helped him to make a simple error. A better preflight check prior to takeoff would have prevented this from happening. Fortunately the damage was minimal and he was able to fly this plane again within