On 4/3/2016 6:41 AM, Giaco wrote:
The biggest reason that I personally use a hard-deck is as the final safety
check to dangerous thought processes in the cockpit. For me, it is just too
easy to mentally assume all will work out and continue to push the limits
of what I "feel" is safe in the moment versus what a removed unbiased
observer would determine.

Excellent point summarizable (I think) as: Pilot, know thyself!

Not too long after I began flying retractable gear sailplanes, I settled on a
"hard deck for gear down/up" of 1,000' agl. While the "gear up" part won't
work if your ship has its release hook on the gear itself, the gear down bit
will. And - big surprise - what motivated me to begin using that particular
mental-crutch/memory-aid/practice was nearly forgetting to lower the gear the
first time I found myself "stretching a glide" back to the home field. I
remembered - only after it became clear at ~300'agl that I would, in fact,
make the field without a straight-in - that my mind had been completely
unemcumbered by any "pre-landing checklist bits" other than wind direction...

Bob W.