I read this thread with interest. Chuck...your last comment..you owned a flight school and then sacked the people you hired??? Hmmm coz they didn't do it your way. Did you not interview them in the first place and establish their practises??
How many times have you travelled on a large twin and heard the props change on final (condition levers). Don't think they leave it in the cruise mode all the way thru descent and onto the ground.
englishal
your comment about the arrow..I own a T tail arrow. I'm type rated in over 40 different aircraft, including helicopters and gliders. Putting the prop to full fine will only put 2 dents (as you put it) in the wings due to a heavy landing. I suggest to you that this would only happen when the aircraft is at a speed not sufficient to reduce the rate of descent (or flare) thereby indicating that the pilot was either trying to stretch out the glide profile to the point that the aircraft fell out of the sky or they just failed to flare althogether from a nose down dive! There is bugger all difference between fixed prop and CSU when it comes to engine failure....they all act like a break..and unless you have a feather function or want to pull the aircraft up into a vertical climb to stall the prop and stop rotation fully then it all comes down to the pilot. (I'm talking smaller aircraft).
Checks.........Bah humbug....left to right top to bottom and behind, everything gets covered. At the end of the day - fuel and the controls are the 2 things which seem to f..k people over every day. Each aircraft is different and the systems are different. As long as you go left to right top to bottom you should cover everything. Downwind checks consist of FUEL. In order to slow the plane down..I need to get everything hanging out. Only thing I'm religious on is the GP on final (gear pitch) and its just habbit.
Sorry, but I'm a firm believer in having the pitch fine...just one less lever to piss around with in the event of an overshoot. Having said that..it doesn't really matter in the Turbo Arrow I have..but still, it's a good practice as far as I'm concerned.