Have you gone to a contest and forgotten your Transmitter? I have. I've forgotten my engines. I left my girlfriend standing on a street corner holding a cake when I was at the 1964 Nats. I remembered the next morning. She did too.

Years ago I wrote a check list in the bottom of a bucket I used to carry my engine test tools because I got tired to going to the park to run engines and leaving my.... It soon evolved into the full-blown checklist I use before packing to go test flying, or to a contest. Pretty silly huh? Takes too much time? Yep. Unless you forget something, then the invested time is well spent.

Here is my checklist: I keep it in the shop so that while I'm packing I can mark them off as I put them in the car.

Finally, we joke about a short list: This what you can't do without- it's defined as what you can't borrow. (Some of my friends seem to operate permanently on that short list) Always check for the short list before you shut the door.

For those who bothered to read this far: Mike Helsel told me about a trick to save space in a Q-500 or QM-40. On the composite wing, after you have cut the hole for the servo, put the 1/8 plywood inside the wing instead of on the outside. You save space and are also safer.

CONTEST/TEST FLY CHECK LIST

Airplane Items Wings Fuselages Landing Gears Belly Pans, Etc Spare Wheels Wing Bolts (box) Spinners Balancing Weights Props / Prop Kit Fuel Filter	Personal Items Ear Plugs/Muffs Chap Stick Sunblock Headache pills Benedril Eye drops Insect repellent Hat / Hard Hat Sunglasses First Aid Kit	Engine Equipment Engines Mufflers After run oil Spare screws Engine parts Glow plugs Gaskets Shims O-rings
Tools Screwdrivers #0 & #1 Slot #0 & #1 Phillip Hex Drivers 1/16, 5/64 3/32, 7/64 "T" as req Needle nose pliers Small ignition pliers Plug Wrenches 5/16, 3/8 Hemostats (2) 4" Adjustable Wrench 1/4" nut driver Diagonal cutters Prop reamer Tapered reamer 1/4" wrench Knife and blades Razor saw Wide blade short handle screwdriver Mill file Torque wrench Taping Kit (drills)	Repair Kit 5 min epoxy CA Gap CA Kicker Ground glass Fiberglass cloth Sandpaper Pop sticks Balsa pieces Foam Si Rubber Extra screws Extra hardware Spare tank Fuel tubing	Flying Equipment Airplane stand Drop cloth Flight box starter plug driver tach Windex Paper Towels Rags Lighter fluid degreaser Fuel Fuel pump/syringe Chair/stool Cooler Water Tent
Radio Gear Transmitter spare Radio Kit (box) extra servos switch harness crystals TX modules extra battery extra RX servo arms and screws Chargers E.S.V.M. volt meter	Misc Items 6" SS scale Pencil/marker Measuring Equipment Rubber bands N-Seize (small) Loctite (blue) Clear vinyl tape Blenderm Tape Small copper wire Yellow Nyrod Little black book	Other Directions to field Hotel Reservations Airline tickets Camera

Obviously, you may want to box things separately. For example, my repair and radio kits stay boxed and ready.

Dub

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