We have kind of an unwritten rule in our group. Somebody else checks the plane, especially for controls going the correct direction, and then somebody other than the owner flies it the first time. The owner of the airplane obviously has to trust the guy flying the plane but it seems that by the time the owner of the plane takes the controls, the jitters are pretty much gone. Sometimes that happens in the middle of the first flight, sometimes not. But we've been pretty good at picking up on reversed controls and successful maidens because someone who is not emotionally vested in the plane checks it and flies it first.

I realize that is not going to work with all personalities, but it is working in our small group. Bear in mind that ours is a very small group, only about a dozen fliers, and we are pretty close knit.