How to preflight your kasperwing
Keep one thing in mind when you preflight your kasperwing (Its A pusher design) If anything comes loose on your plane its most likely headed through the prop and if it is a solid mass you may be going down quickly. For this reason one of the most important things in your pre-flight routine is to check that everything that can come loose is safety wired to the craft. I recommend the use of a composite prop over a wooden prop for the same reason. If something as small as a wing nut strikes a wooden prop under full load conditions you will have shards of wood tearing holes in your dacron sail. A composite prop will be damaged by a wing-nut yes, however a composite prop will stay intact with the worse side effect being bad vibration. I use a three blade ultra prop and have had things such as safety wire and washers go through my prop leaving a ding in the blade that was easy to repair with some plastic epoxy compound and some sand paper.
Short of items coming loose and going through the prop the second major item of concern is stressed or damaged aircraft cables and fittings and stressed or damaged airframe parts. The Kasperwing wing design is what keeps us aloft and if any cable or support structure that keeps the wing in spec changes the craft may become unstable or uncontrollable. these are the things we are looking for while preflighting the craft.
Aircraft cable that is frayed or damaged
cable shackles that are bent or worn down
Aluminum tube that is bent or has enlarged bolt holes
Bolts that are bent or have damaged threads
Dacron sail cloth that is ripped, faded or damaged in any way including missing stitches (these are load bearing surfaces)
Missing or loose safety wire
Proper cable tension and wing geometry
control line operation and condition
missing or loose safety rings or safety rings that may cause control lines to "hang or stick"
Leaking or worn fuel lines
loose prop bolts or prop blades
full fuel tank...... yeah I know!!!! but I have taken off without checking it once before
proper instrument operation
and we should always end with a self check of our own mental state and preparation.
During the pre-flight it is best to be alone and without interruptions. If someone stops you mid pre-flight to ask a question kindly advise the person that you cannot be interrupted at this time and you will answer the question as soon as your done, then start your pre-flight over again. Always start and end the preflight from the same location and walk through the steps systematically. If you start at the wing tip you should end at the same wing tip having walked around the craft 360°. It is entirely up to you where you start your pre-flight and different techniques work better for different people. I start mine dead center in front of the plane and work around counter clockwise but see what works best for you. If you have flown once already and you take a break to grab a drink or take a bathroom break you MUST pre-flight the craft again. in fact anytime you leave the craft even for a minute or two it is best to re- pre-flight the craft