I always follow a process when at the field. I put the plane together, then before even starting the thing, I power everything up except the engine, and stand behind the plane. I then operate everything on the Transmitter. Right left aileron, right left rudder, up down elevator, and the throttle to full open then closed.

When standing behind the aircraft, right aileron input should raise the right aileron and lower the left. Right rudder should obviously make the rudder move to the right.. and up elevator should move the elevator up, down .... yep, you guessed it.. down. Once everything checks out, I shut everything down then do the voltwatch thing (as described in earlier threads) to insure that I have adequate receiver battery voltage to fly.

If something is wrong, that's the time to verify and fix it. Not on the flight line, or afterwards when you are collecting scrap balsa.

Sorry to hear about the crash. There is always something to learn, and you just had a valuable lesson.

CGr.