DO YOUR CONTOL CHECKS!

In my experience, many people do not cover all the critical elements of doing a
crontrol check. I recently gave a presentation on positive control checks,
critical assembly checks, preflight checks and other checks. If you're
interested, here it is:

http://www.mymedtrans.com/personal.htm

You might find elements here that might help you.


Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ
illspam

In article , Jim Vincent
writes
In my experience, many people do not cover all the critical elements of doing a
crontrol check.
Or spelling checks, come to that.
--
Mike Lindsay

I've gone back and forth on this. I've been a big
proponent of the assembly check, and thought the PCC was redundant.
Recently, however, during a PCC a bellcrank broke and
this was caused by the pressure exerted by the "helper."
Nice to have this happen on the ground, and I can't
think of how this could have been detected without
a PCC. So now I think a PCC is useful too...

Good article Jim...it's great to see your insights...

In article ,
Jim Vincent wrote:
In my experience, many people do not cover all the critical elements of doing a
crontrol check. I recently gave a presentation on positive control checks,
critical assembly checks, preflight checks and other checks. If you're
interested, here it is:

http://www.mymedtrans.com/personal.htm

You might find elements here that might help you.


Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ



--

------------+
Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA

Mark James Boyd wrote:
I've gone back and forth on this. I've been a big
proponent of the assembly check, and thought the PCC was redundant.
Recently, however, during a PCC a bellcrank broke and
this was caused by the pressure exerted by the "helper."
Nice to have this happen on the ground, and I can't
think of how this could have been detected without
a PCC. So now I think a PCC is useful too...

WHat aircraft was this, which bellcrank, and how was the helper exerting
pressure? Or was he simply holding the surface steady while the pilot
applied the pressure? What, exactly, broke (bellcrank, mounting of the
bellcrank, a bearing), and why did it fail?
--
-----
change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Was a 2-33. Heard about it secondhand (or I'd give more
detail). I've seen service difficulty reports in Cezznas,
dunno if there are such things for gliders, maybe the
mechanic who fixes it will give official details...I'll
ask...


In article ,
Eric Greenwell wrote:
Mark James Boyd wrote:
I've gone back and forth on this. I've been a big
proponent of the assembly check, and thought the PCC was redundant.
Recently, however, during a PCC a bellcrank broke and
this was caused by the pressure exerted by the "helper."
Nice to have this happen on the ground, and I can't
think of how this could have been detected without
a PCC. So now I think a PCC is useful too...

WHat aircraft was this, which bellcrank, and how was the helper exerting
pressure? Or was he simply holding the surface steady while the pilot
applied the pressure? What, exactly, broke (bellcrank, mounting of the
bellcrank, a bearing), and why did it fail?
--
-----
change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA



--

------------+
Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA

Eric Greenwell wrote in message

WHat aircraft was this, which bellcrank, and how was the helper exerting
pressure? Or was he simply holding the surface steady while the pilot
applied the pressure? What, exactly, broke (bellcrank, mounting of the
bellcrank, a bearing), and why did it fail?

I know of one case where an elevator push rod failed during a PCC
(Ventus) and another where an aileron circuit bell crank failed in
flight at the weld line. (G103Acro).


Andy

Jim,

Very good and complete presentation, I agree with all you are saying.
Interesting that you recommend a practice that I rarely see in this
country - in fact when rigging at a contest site I feel like my wife
and I are the only ones doing it right:
Assistant SITS in cockpit, PIC is walking around the plane
moving/holding control surfaces giving instructions to the assistant.
The normal picture I observe is that the pilot is in the glider,
parachute and harness on and ready to go and some bystander is told to
hold onto the control surface while the pilot vigorously shakes the
stick or whatever. Rudder is never subject to being tested. Even
worse is the situation when the pilot stands outside the cockpit
rattling the stick while some poor schmock tries to keep the aileron
or elevator from banging against the stops. All you instructors out
there, this is very bad practice and someone must have been teaching
it to the US glider population.

Herb, J7

illspam (Jim Vincent) wrote in message ...
In my experience, many people do not cover all the critical elements of doing a
crontrol check. I recently gave a presentation on positive control checks,
critical assembly checks, preflight checks and other checks. If you're
interested, here it is:

http://www.mymedtrans.com/personal.htm

You might find elements here that might help you.


Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ
illspam

What's wrong with the standard procedure where the pilots move the stick and
the assistance hold the control surfaces?? Often the assistance is not a
pilot, so putting him in a cockpit expecting him to operate stick and rudder
is too much. My wife wouldn't even reach the rudder pedals. I much rather
move the stick and rudder myself while giving the assistance simple
instructions. All the assistance needs to do is apply pressure in the right
direction while the pilot moves the stick to full deflection each direction.
By moving the stick myself I can ensure it feels right and have a full
travel.
Don't get me wrong, I am strongly advocating PCC and never skip it, but I
can't think of any reason why on earth I would trust a bystander to seat in
my cockpit, and do the pilots job.

Ramy

"Herbert Kilian" wrote in message
...
Jim,

Very good and complete presentation, I agree with all you are saying.
Interesting that you recommend a practice that I rarely see in this
country - in fact when rigging at a contest site I feel like my wife
and I are the only ones doing it right:
Assistant SITS in cockpit, PIC is walking around the plane
moving/holding control surfaces giving instructions to the assistant.
The normal picture I observe is that the pilot is in the glider,
parachute and harness on and ready to go and some bystander is told to
hold onto the control surface while the pilot vigorously shakes the
stick or whatever. Rudder is never subject to being tested. Even
worse is the situation when the pilot stands outside the cockpit
rattling the stick while some poor schmock tries to keep the aileron
or elevator from banging against the stops. All you instructors out
there, this is very bad practice and someone must have been teaching
it to the US glider population.

Herb, J7

illspam (Jim Vincent) wrote in message
...
In my experience, many people do not cover all the critical elements of
doing a
crontrol check. I recently gave a presentation on positive control
checks,
critical assembly checks, preflight checks and other checks. If you're
interested, here it is:

http://www.mymedtrans.com/personal.htm

You might find elements here that might help you.


Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ
illspam