How to do a Positive Control Check?

Distressingly easy on a Std Cirrus.

wrote:
On Jun 5, 7:54 pm, Sarah Anderson wrote:
JJ Sinclair wrote:

...

PS, I have seen a pilot retract the gear when asked to do a control
check.........it can happen!
Interesting, thanks for that detail. I've always wondered if it's possible to retract the gear
with weight on the wheel - that is, on the ground. One'd think it possible to design an over-center
mechanism that would make that impossible, or at least *really* hard to do.
But it is experiment I've never been willing to try.

Sarah

I have tried it. With the plane assembled, but still in the 'cradle',
extend the undercarriage, then lower the cradle until the weight is
all on the wheel, but it can only drop an inch (or less). Get in, and
try to retract the gear. In the Speed Astir, I can't do it with a
very firm pull on the gear handle.

On Thu, 5 Jun 2008 14:39:47 -0700 (PDT), JJ Sinclair
wrote:

.BAM the ships alams to the ramp as the
landing gear retracts!

I can assure you that an ASW-20 and a DG-300 retract their gear so
quick that even the gear doors are closed before the fuselage touches
the ground. If this happens on grass, there won't even be a damage.
I'd call this a fool-proof design...

Unfortunately the gear doors on the ASW-24 are crushed by the weight
of the fuselage.

Guess how we found out.

Since the last incident of this kind (yes... there were several) it's
mandatory that there needs to be a pilot in the cockpit who has
already flown the glider in question.


Bye
Andreas

"BB" wrote

making sure the bolt is in the horizontal stab (Schleicher)

Just as a side note: in newer Schleicher designs the bolt is slightly
modified and cannot be removed from the tailplane. If you don´t fasten the
bolt its head protrudes which is easily detected during a check. Schleicher
published a TM allowing the modification of older designs in the same way.
Material and work required is negligible, it is convenient and a real
benefit in safety.

Just thought some owners might not know...

Michael

ZL wrote:

Do you do a positive control check on the towplane?



Absolutely! Every time I assemble one.


Jack

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

On Aug 4, 11:23*am, wrote:
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

Agreed …

I had an asw20b (manual wing control hookups) and checked everything
three times because they were manual hookups, after all … and did a
pcc 99.999% of the time with a helper - never had a problem.

I then bought a ship with auto control hookups and thought I was safe
… and then discovered a problem one day as I cycled the controls on
the flight line before hookup. Root causes were a failure to position
the flap handle to the proper position for assembly - and a failure to
do a thorough control check. The latter caused in large part by a
belief that you could not assemble an auto-hookup ship
incorrectly.

Today, I do a CAC 100% of the time (admittedly only 99% with a helper)
- and I check/cycle everything three times - and I'm very attentive to
deflections/sounds/pressures that (even fractionally) differ from
'normal'.

BTW, having a helper does not insure you will find an assembly
problem ...

KK