Right on Vaughn, there seems to be an 'Atlantic Divide' regarding the
issue you are making. I've been instructed and have practiced doing
the PCC the way Jim Vincent and you explain. I've voiced concerns
about the US practice at many occasions such as daily safety briefings
during contests. Here are again the points that make me favor putting
the PIC at the control surfaces with an assistant at or better inside
the cockpit:

1. Pilot can observe the amount and direction of deflection at full
stick travel AT THE CONTROL SURFACE
2. PIC can determine amount of play at full deflection
3. He/she can apply a specific force to the controls while the
assistant holds (locks) the stick or brake handle at middle and end of
travel
4. This should be done during the outside assembly check while cirling
the glider counterclockwise BY THE PILOT
5. If you don't have a trusted assistant to move the controls, go find
or train one. There should be at least a tow pilot or a wing runner
at hand, nothing wrong with asking your spouse.
6. I would trust an assistant much more with moving the stick/controls
than having him handle the control surfaces, where is the bigger risk
for damage?
7. Kill two birds with one stone, it is very natural to move around
the glider sliding your hands over leading and trailing edges,
checking connectors, try moving the hor. stab, checking winglets and
so much more between doing the PCC tasks. At the end of the roundtrip
I am quite certain that the ship is ready to go.

Let's discuss this some more. We have here a classic situation where
reason should prevail in determining which of two methods is the best
to find and fix assembly and other problems.

Herb, J7



As the PIC, I want
to be in charge of the force put on the control surface and I want to see,
hear, smell, feel that control surface through its entire movement. That
means that my assistant is moving the stick and I am walking around the
glider touching the control surfaces and looking at everything else.

I never use "up, down, left, right". I substitute "toward me" and
"away from me". Left and right are relative terms at best, and people often
get it wrong. When you move the control stick towards a control surface,
that surface alway goes up; move it away from the control surface and that
surface always goes down...no ambiguity and no error!

Vaughn



The link is:
http://www.mymedtrans.com/personal.htm


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martin@ : Martin Gregorie
gregorie : Harlow, UK
demon :
co : Zappa fan & glider pilot
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