Do YOU always fully check your controls before flight?
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Radix
Yes I check the controls before each and every t/o.
I am always supisious of an aircraft just out of maintenance, any maintenance. Like it or not you are a test pilot when you conduct the first attempt to get airborne, after engineers have been at it. All due respect to our engineering colleagues of course.
I did raise the subject of my suspicions to an engineer once. He respond in hast "I am always suspicious of an aircraft when a pilot has been near it!!
Yes I check the controls before each and every t/o.
I am always supisious of an aircraft just out of maintenance, any maintenance. Like it or not you are a test pilot when you conduct the first attempt to get airborne, after engineers have been at it. All due respect to our engineering colleagues of course.
I did raise the subject of my suspicions to an engineer once. He respond in hast "I am always suspicious of an aircraft when a pilot has been near it!!
Lots of good little Vegemite kids on this thread. No mistakes ever made, all checks always completed, restores my faith in aviation
Allow me to elaborate slightly ....
There probably exists on this very thread, someone who has neglected this check and is unaware of it. All it takes is a distraction at a critical point. Just ask anyone who has landed "wheels up". The problem is that if this happens the belief that the check was completed remains.
Some may be better off saying: "There but for the grace of god go I"
There probably exists on this very thread, someone who has neglected this check and is unaware of it. All it takes is a distraction at a critical point. Just ask anyone who has landed "wheels up". The problem is that if this happens the belief that the check was completed remains.
Some may be better off saying: "There but for the grace of god go I"
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I understand your point Bob and, of course, it's possible to stuff anything up. But surely before-takeoff checks are the ones we do with the least pressure and with a high probability of getting correct. Is the small chance of a stuff-up really grounds for panning the righteous, even given the irrationality of an anonymous internet forum?
Invoking grace in an aviation context is a slippery slope. In the limit, you'd chuck away the check lists and say a prayer or two. Call me a heathen atheist but I have a suspicion this might not work so well.
I observe pilots who do next to no checks. If they crash and I don't, do I ascribe my longevity to grace? No, I think I'll go with the simplest explanation and just say I identified a few gotchas and had them fixed, reducing the probability of misfortune. If I crash, I accept that the probability of a crash is not zero, even with the best checks in the world.
Invoking grace in an aviation context is a slippery slope. In the limit, you'd chuck away the check lists and say a prayer or two. Call me a heathen atheist but I have a suspicion this might not work so well.
I observe pilots who do next to no checks. If they crash and I don't, do I ascribe my longevity to grace? No, I think I'll go with the simplest explanation and just say I identified a few gotchas and had them fixed, reducing the probability of misfortune. If I crash, I accept that the probability of a crash is not zero, even with the best checks in the world.
Invoking grace in an aviation context is a slippery slope. In the limit, you'd chuck away the check lists and say a prayer or two. Call me a heathen atheist but I have a suspicion this might not work so well.
I have long lost count of the number of BFR/AFR's I have conducted and my observations from some are the only reason the crash doesn't happen is because nothing ever goes wrong.
I do also recall an incident long ago when flying skydivers in a 182. I was totally destracted mid way through the pre take off checks by a lengthy ATC clearance. When I tried to rotate I then noticed that the nail the operator was using for the column lock was still firmly in place. Fortunately it was a long runway. Did I learn? Sure did, I am of the same opinion as others on this thread that this check should be done twice, once in the pre take off checks and once just as the aircraft is rolling.
The point is, had the nail been removed, to this day I would remain convinced that the control check had indeed been done. Needless to say the nail got discarded and the operator purchased the correct item. An alarm bell also rings when someone tells me they never forget a check.
Tecman, I think that what Aussie Bob and a couple of others are trying to say is that the OP was posing a rhetorical question, not a poll on how many of the wonderfully diligent and professional internet forum members actually carry out a check, where, how, their fond memories of being taught by WW2 bomber veterans all sprinkled on top with some cute juxtapositions from real life airline pilots posted just to highlight the fact that they really are...... real life airline pilots!
It's all very cute (is there a group hug emoticon?)
It's all very cute (is there a group hug emoticon?)
Last edited by Compylot; 12th Apr 2015 at 09:52.
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The point is, had the nail been removed, to this day I would remain convinced that the control check had indeed been done.
Oktas "I've never forgotten - or have I?" 8
Thread Starter
Certainly a first for any thread that I have ever started !!
We actually have had training to verify elevator around 80 knots and that it is moving properly and effectively.
Earnest K, to be precise.
Heard a rather good recount of a rather senior instructor and airline pilot who walked back into the flight office with a hat full of the previous nights efforts (plus brekkie) at the mess after a RAAF cadet decided to do a full and free check of controls as part of his pre-landing checks...
Heard a rather good recount of a rather senior instructor and airline pilot who walked back into the flight office with a hat full of the previous nights efforts (plus brekkie) at the mess after a RAAF cadet decided to do a full and free check of controls as part of his pre-landing checks...
