AVCANADA

You're missing a very important point BPF: Make sure everything moves in the right direction.

Yes true but controls that have been working don't suddenly reverse themselves. All of the reversed controls I have ever heard about occured immediately after maintenance, which is why I think pilots should be particularly alert when doing the first flight after a maintenance event which may have effected the flight controls......snip

Yes true but controls that have been working don't suddenly reverse themselves.

True, but the habit of doing a control check without checking the direction of travel is what has killed many pilots when work has been done. Teaching moving the yoke around and checking that controls move freely without checking the direction of movement is teaching bad habits.

I have to mention another one of my pet peeves... Control checks are to be smooth, controlled movements and not simply slamming from stop to stop. It grinds my gears to see controls slammed around on the ground or in the air.

As the weather gets colder, steel control cables get slack in aluminum aircraft. In particular, pay attention to the full travel of the trim on Cessna aircraft. The trim stops are like fish weights between the two control cables and will sag if the tension is too low. I've had one catch a bulkhead once and jam in one direction.

So do you recommend checking the full travel of the trim before each takeoff?

meh

A few other things, yes ,full trim checks should be done , not on every pre-flight but maybe once a day. Another thing, go full left rudder, hold rudder in that position, then full up and down elevator, do the same with right rudder, that way you will determine if the rudder hits the elevator and reduces travel. Also, operate the aileron full right to its stop and then see if BOTH ailerons are hitting their stops at the same time or if you need further movement for the other aileron to hit its stop. same with full laft aileron. One more thing , make sure the elevators are hitting the stops at the tail BEFORE the control column y or u hits the inst panel or firewall under the panel! OFTEN, AMEs neglect to assure that wiring, hoses etc are clear of the control columns with full movements,,,have a look under there.

I almost learned this lesson the hard way at the beginning of my career.

I was flying a C182 and had a box buckled into the front seat. I did a control check, forward, aft, left, right. On landing, I flared, and tried to drop a wing for the crosswind. The edge of the box got in the way when I tried to drop a wing.

I'm not sure if I remember correctly but it seems to me that during my PPL training we were taught to run the trim all the way both ways and check the trim tab position. I think this was during the before start checks.