Power should be set to Idle or Off. Depending on thrust to weight ratio and wing loading of your plane, elevator should either be neutral or slightly up/down
Not properly setting (and testing) your FAILSAFE setting before your plane's maiden is dangerous and not only do you risk injury to you or others, but you could very well be kissing your plane goodbye (I'm speaking from experience)
For those unaware of what failsafe is - read below
- Failsafe:
Used in RC receivers as a way to make sure you don't suffer the consequences of an out-of-control RC doing 30+ mph; luckily most full size RC receivers have a failsafe unit built-in. However, while some receivers have a preset failsafe - others MUST be set/programmed when you bind the aircraft. The receiver's built-in failsafe monitors the connection between the transmitter and the receiver for signal disruption and/or interference. Failures such as lost or weak signal, frequency interference, or low battery may automatically engage the failsafe unit and either use the default failsafe or the programmed failsafe whichever was set.
Failure in setting a proper failsafe likely means that when your receiver loses its signal (transmitter failure, dead/weak receiver battery, signal interference, etc) the aircraft will maintain its last commands (i.e. climb at full throttle, continue straight at current altitude, etc). A programmed failsafe could reduce the throttle, and perhaps even add a little up elevator, adopting a landing profile thus enabling the aircraft to slowly begin a descent and potentially reducing damage to the aircraft and reducing reducing risk of injuries to third party.
Each receiver (Futaba, Spectrum, HITEC, etc) has its own method to set failsafe and these instructions are normally laid out in the receiver's instruction manual or the companies website. Once failsafe settings have been programmed, they SHOULD be double checked by doing a simple test (while ENSURING AIRCRAFT IS SECURED FIRST, simply shutdown the transmitter while aircraft is powered). AIRCRAFT SHOULD BE FIRMLY SECURED FIRST to prevent it from taking off on its own or even injuring someone.
If you value your aircraft or you have a nitro or gas engine, you SHOULD have a full size receiver with the failsafe set and checked!