I wanted to share some of my experiences with some of the new pilots out there with regard to pre-flight checks of your planes. I am have been flying for a couple of years now, the snow is now gone, the fields have dried up and it is now time to fly again. I have about 10 flights so far this year, I am pretty good about pre-flighting, maybe not as careful as I should be. I was out yesterday at my club, everything checked out fine, my 46 FX was tuned very well, and the plane was running great. On my third flight of the day the engine stopped, I thought it was because it was at idle for too long, no big deal, refueled, retuned and took it up again. The flight the plane was making some strange rattling noises, I felt something was not right, I asked one of the more experienced guys on the flight line if the sound was problem, he said, no, just a typical trainer - no big deal.

That was my last flight of the day, taking the plane apart, I noticed that my throttle servo had 3 of the 4 screws out, that is why I was having some problems, also the rattle was caused by the loose servo. Not a big deal, but a lesson that when something seems wrong - it is!

I did not check the servo screws before flying, if I did I would have found the problem. Losing a bit of control on the throttle is not that big a deal, but if it had been another servo, I would have lost the plane. Last year I had my elevator come loose and managed to land the plane, again, I heard a little buzz flying a couple of days before and did not do anything about it, should have checked all of the control surfaces better, do it now every few flights.

I have been very lucky, I could have lost my plane a couple of times because I was not careful enough checking out the plane - just thought I would share my experiences with you guys.

Checking your plane carefully will help keep you from rekitting your airplanes!