When i started aeros a wise sage removed my metal pen – the rule i have followed ever since is nothing hard in the cockpit of anything that might be turned upside down, and every tool counted in and out.
In the glider world, whenever we rig a glider there is always a positive control check. One person moves the stick, the other person holds the applicable control surface, makes sure it not only moves but force can be applied to it, and that it moves in the correct sense.
