There was an old saw that held that aeroplanes used by students were probably in better shape than aeroplanes used by PPL's. The reason being that students go over their plane with a fine tooth comb before every flight whereas your average PPL or CPL may be more confidant of the craft's basic structural integrity and miss the odd split pin here, brake pad there.
I still try to give the Cub a thorough pre-flight every time. If you've been away from it for an hour on a busy field you never know what some clown has done. I've seen the results of twits putting their fingers through fabric. Who knows if some nit hasn't leaned into the cockpit and fiddled with the switches (all one of them on the Cub) or turned the fuel off or the master switch on.
Finally, who knows what bits might have fallen off, old split pins given way etc after that last not so gentle crosswind landing?
I'd rather find this out on the ground where I can do something about it.
As far as I'm concerned, the above applies regardless of the time of day.
Lucifer, how does rubbish get into the PILOT before landing? Sorry, cheap shot
willbav8r, no structural bolts front and rear of the main spar? I thought the aeroplane lying on it's side with the wing in the air would have been a bit of a giveaway there
Finally, bookworm, if the weather does go yukk, the last thing you want is for the situation to be complicated by something you should have spotted on the ground like an aileron starting to flap lose cos a split pin has come out and the nut worked off the hinge pin.