Originally Posted by
Tarq57
I remember reading an article years ago in Flying magazine. (I think it was penned by Richard Collins. Maybe Len Morgan.)
He was lining up for departure and moved the controls through their full range just, before giving it the gas. The FO said, why do that? We did it as part of the taxi check."
The reply involved the author having witnessed a DC 8 stall on departure and crash. Turns out a bit of gravel had been blown into an elevator hinge by a preceding departure, and jammed it. The crew couldn't lower the nose.
He was haunted by that memory. (Well, you would be.)
Creating the mental image is probably sufficient to jog one into performing that simple check.
It was written by Thomas H. Block. Read the same story way back when, have done the last-minute control check ever since.