Great discussion so far.

A couple points...

In soaring we DO have crew particularly in the staging, take-off, and
tow phase. We sometimes have crew during landing as well if there is
a ground crew with radio. So, crew resource management has great
value in soaring operations and should be utilized.

One of the jobs crew can perform is making sure pilots complete their
checklists; Critical Assembly Checks, Positive Control Checks, and, if
done out-loud, pre take-off checklist. Teach your ground crew not to
hook-up a towline until they hear the pilot complete the checklist.

In-cockpit checklists for glider ops should be done from memory (pre
take-off, landing, off-airport landing) WUFSTALL can be completed
easily in 20 seconds if done from memory and at the approapriate time
during the approach.

CBSIFTCB plus WET (wind, emergency procedures, traffic) takes less
than a half a minute to SAY OUT LOUD and verify or touch each item. I
teach to say "Emergency below 200 ft lower the nose land ahead, above
200 lower the nose, land ahead or behind". Anything more is either
too much, takes too long, or just simply too confusing for the reptile
brain that will be trying to accomplish it during a real emergency.

On the last item, Traffic, make eye contact with the ground crew who
should now be patiently waiting at your wing tip and say TRAFFIC and
look around to remind them to look around for you. This is crew
resource management. It takes no extra time and gets everyone
watching each others back. There is no excuse for taking-off with
canopys unlatched, controls not hooked-up.

Look for other ways in which CRM can be utilized in soaring operations
and share them with others here.

Matt Michael