As long as JJ is confessing, I guess I can, too (especially since
there's already been at least one posting on this subject).

I've been doing solo positive control checks this season. I typically
camp at the airport for a contest and solo rig anyway, often before
anyone else arrives in the morning. I have a two-column printed
checklist. [41 assembly items, 20 cockpit equipment items, 7 task
items, 9 pre-launch items, and my old ABCCCD in-cockpit checklist just
to be sure. In addition to grouping, they're arranged so that I can do
a walkaround inspection in sequence. At the Std. Nats in Cordele this
year, Bif Huss and I compared checklists and I saw he had some
improvements based on his Navy-influenced training that I want to
incorporate.] I check everything off whether or not I have a helper. I
use a pencil so I can come back and pick up any items I skipped but
I'd just as soon not skip anything. Anyway, I lock the stick back and
centered, hard, with the lap belt, then yank/pull on the ailerons and
elevator. Then I release the stick and do several rapid full-
deflection cycles and watch the control surfaces and listen. Same
routine as JJ for the dive brakes. I think I'm safe doing it this way
with my ASW 24 with auto connections everywhere.

If I had an early ASW 20, I'd want to use a trained helper to move
each surface through its full deflection while putting a load on it,
plus some vibration testing. Plus a visual inspection to make certain
all the safety pins or sleeves were properly installed. Plus yanking
on the control rod going into the Hotelier connector itself.
Especially the elevator. Especially the elevator. Especially....

In aviation, as in life, we're all searching for absolute truths. In
the real world, a lot of things are situational or contextual. What's
safe on one glider or for one pilot or in one set of circumstances can
be dangerous when something is different. That's why we try to train
people to use judgment. Unfortunately, some pilots don't or can't seem
to exercise good judgment so we put these rules into place; e.g., the
critical assembly check at U.S. contests, which I voted for as an SSA
director but which I regularly violate by doing it myself (rather than
using a helper) because (1) I use a printed checklist (which has the
CAC items in bold) and (2) I reuse my wing tape multiple times so the
initials are on there every day regardless.

Now I'm really in trouble. But I'm a little frustrated with the
lengthy exchanges on RAS recently where various pilots argue adamantly
at length over their versions of the absolute truth: rules that should
NEVER be broken or that should ALWAYS be observed. Life isn't that
simple. If we were insistent on absolute safety, we'd never fly again.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
USA