Originally Posted by
rickair7777
I do the control check full range (I see some folks who do not) and I do it fairly abruptly...I want to ensure that any abrupt inputs I may to make in the air have already been tested on the ground. I have a friend (USCG) who was involved in the clean up of that AK thing off of LA, and I flew with plenty of folks who knew the crew on the mesa B-1900 that over-pitched at CLT...it gets to me a little bit, I don't take flight controls for granted.
Full range yes, abruptly NO. An abrupt control change on a flight control with no air load on it isn't proving anything, it's just poor airmanship and hard on the airplane.
The CLT crash would not have been avoided by a rull range control check, and I'm sure they probably did one. Judging a few inches of elevator stop bolt misplacement is virtually undetectable as they would have gone full forward to the 'stops.' The 'stops' were unfortunately not in the right place.
Not dogging on ya, just don't beat on your airplane because you think it will help predict flight control problems.