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It is your first plane. The box said it was Ready-To Fly (RTF) from the minute you bought it. In fact, you almost went straight from the hobby shop to the flying field. But the salesperson told you to charge the batteries for twenty-four hours before flying. So you took the box home and opened it. It quickly became obvious that you had some work to do. Not a lot, but some.
RTF airplanes are almost completely built. The airframe is totally built and covered. Only a few assembly steps, using a screwdriver, are required. No adhesives are used. The radio, control surfaces, engine and fuel tank are all installed. Still, the wing halves have to be assembled and the horizontal stabilizer and vertical fin installed. The control rods must also be attached to the control surfaces.
It took a while, maybe even a few hours. But you were careful, you worked slowly, you didn’t force parts together and you may have worked around a minor assembly problem or two. But there it is! Once together, it looks great, it looks BIG and it looks sleek with the pointed spinner and swept-back windshield. You are as proud of it as if you had spent the whole winter building it from a wood kit. And you should be proud. Not many people are willing to take on the challenge of flight and most people certainly do not have the patience to assemble their own aircraft. You did.
But hold on for a moment. Is this RTF really ready-to-fly? This plane was assembled in a distant factory by mass production methods. Even though today’s model manufacturers quality control everything while producing the finest products our hobby/sport has ever seen, mistakes can sometimes happen. Plus, during its journey to you, the plane was rattled in its box and endured large temperature and humidity changes.
Once it is airborne, you can’t park the plane on the side of the road to make any adjustments or fix a problem. Whatever problem you take off with, you will have until you land. It’s better to spend a little time and check that beauty over before launching it against both Fate and Gravity. But what do you need to check?
What to check? A lot, but it is all easy to check and you may learn about flight during the process. Let’s start with the parts inside the fuselage. Sit down, get a small flashlight, some small Phillips and regular screwdrivers, put the plane on the workbench and look inside. You will see something like this:
 
Photo 1 Photo 2
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