BOAC, others;
You mean to say that such a check is actually not SOP or at least part of the kit everywhere? It seems second nature - did it from Day One and for 35 years thereafter - it is absolutely fundamental airmanship because failure of the system can kill, (clearly) and we check and re-check anything that can kill, like speed, like altitude, like clearances for same, like terrain, like wing contamination, like the runway we're about to use - all that, ....don't we?....