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Old August 31st 04, 03:08 PM
Herbert Kilian
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(Tom Seim) wrote in message . com...

I recently read the accident report of the ASW20 crash (fatal) at
Williams, CA. Per the check list, they did a positive control check of
the elevator by having the assistant (co-owner) hold the elevator
while the pilot applied force on the stick. Resistance was felt, check
list passed. Only problem was the elevator was not hooked up and what
the pilot felt was the push rod hitting the bottom of the elevator.
Now, if the guy just LOOKED at the connection it would have been
obvious that it was not hooked up (it is in plain site).

Tom and all,

Your report triggers my a "Pavlov's dog" reaction in me. Rather than
salivating like the dog I shake my head in sorrow that in the US we
are practicing placing the pilot in the cockpit for a positive control
check. If the pilot in your example had done the walk-around combined
with the PCC he would most likely have noticed the disconnected
elevator. In most other countries (input from Europe, Australia, S.
Africa etc. welcome) they put a helper at the controls (in the
cockpit) and the pilot asks for specific movements i.e. 'elevator full
up, elevator full down' with the helper repeating the words and
applying force to the controls. I have talked about this to many
pilots here in the US including instructors and the reaction was
always that most here think the pilot needs to "feel" the controls
from the cockpit to know what's going on. I think that's incorrect
mainly because different helpers will apply different forces to the
control surfaces leading to inconsistent feedback.
Another observation in the same vein: most US pilots fail to do the
walk-around check with the justification that they just taped wings
and tail and looked over the glider while doing so.
Another comment: poking fun at the use of check-lists in this thread
is very unfortunate.

Herb, J7