Capt Snooze you asked me " You don't check the mags yourself prior to touching the prop?"
Yes I certainly do. However the day VFR syllabus requires us to do an 'Ignition switch safety check'. You can only do that with the engine running before the previous shutdown. Perhaps I need to be more specific for you. The 'Ignition switch safety check' is for checking that the switches are actually grounding the relevant magneto. If the switch is faulty or the wire to the switch is broken you can look at it as long as you like. You can see it's in the off position and a magneto is still alive. How do you do it? Start the engine first so you can do the 'ignition switch safety check' and then shut it down so you can do the pre flight inspection?