In addition to gliders, I fly helicopters (glide angle is not as good,
though). Before each flight, I spend 20 minutes pre-flighting it. After
pre-flight, no one checks my work. As the pilot, I must be and am the
person responsible for the safety of the helicopter. If something does not
check out right, I do not fly it.

Likewise, in a glider, the pilot must be the person ultimately responsible
for the connections of the controls, as well as other safety checks. The
suggestion of a "wing tape sign off", transferring some responsibility to
the tow pilot seems to raise at least a couple of issues. First, it would
create a potential legal liability upon the tow pilot, which does not
presently exist. That liability would be that if the sailplane crashed
because something went wrong with the controls or the signoff procedure, the
pilot would be a defendant in a multi-million dollar lawsuit - and this from
someone who may not be paid, or often underpaid. The second issue is that
it diverts responsibility from where it belongs - with the pilot.

Clubs are free to adopt rules and regulations to assure that controls are
properly connected. It would be easy to adopt a procedure to assure that
the controls are checked by someone other than the assembler.

On the other hand, I would leave the responsibility for the privately owned
ship with the owner.

I recall years ago flying into a private airstrip in Southern California.
The FBO owned the field. She denied landing permission to any pilot who had
a retractable gear ariplane and refused to state that his gear was "down and
locked". I do not know if safety was improved, but I do know of at least
one instance where the pilot landed gear up (not me).

Check lists are absolutely essential.

Colin


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