Originally Posted by
Murexway
With regard to the apparent left aileron anomaly, I once picked up a Gulfstream G-I turboprop from a heavy "C" check at a busy, well-known, U.S. maintenance facility that was very familiar with Gulfstreams. During the preflight, we noticed that when the control yokes were turned to the right, the left aileron went up and the right aileron went down (and vice-versa) - that was the end of the day's flying. A left engine fire on takeoff would be a bad time to discover that.
If the ailerons were rigged backward on this Convair, they would have crashed immediately upon lifting off. That's what happened in both instances I know of where the ailerons were connected backward. It's extremely unlikely that any pilot would be able to recognize what was going on and have enough time at low level to apply control input opposite everything he'd learned and practiced his entire life.