Pre Takeoff Checklists

OK,

ive often wondered if you asked a room of glider pilots how many A's,
B's, C's, D's, and E's there were in their checklist how many answers
you'd get. Tom's report satisfies my suspiscion. I used to use ABCDE
but I could never remember how many of each. Plus some people used an
A for airbrakes, another uses a B for Brakes and others use a D for
Dive brakes!

So, regardless of the form of checklist, what does RAS suggest be
included in the before takeoff check? Of course it there will be some
variance between different types. Bob Buck talked in one of his books
about "Killer Items" which I think is an appropriate thing to be
looking for right before you hook up to the towplane. So yes you
could have a written checklist that includes taking your wallet out of
your pocket and things like that, but Tom's ASK-13 checklist (canopy
and airbrakes) is an example of the checklist addressing only the
Killer Items. Although I think that it may be a little to the
extreme.