flight

For safety, the initial flights could be made under radio control without a pilot on board. (Ballast equivalent to the pilot's weight could be attached.) The wings could be locked in an intermediate glide position.
Alternatively, the craft could be supported on a vehicle and driven along an airport runway to determine its flight characteristics while tethered
The wing beat control cylinder could be engineered as a pneumatic cylinder and compressed air used to power the wing cycle during pilotless test flights. However, I am worried that this could be too ambitious given the short timescale for the project
Initial launches could be balloon drops. When there is more confidence about the airworthiness of the craft, the pilot should be able to self-launch from hill sides by taking a few steps and then lifting her/his feet onto the foot rests
In flight, periods of gliding could be interspersed by bursts of wing beating activity. I am in the process of designing a hand-operated control to lock the wings in a neutral position for gliding