If one spends enough time flying personal airplanes, what once was new and novel eventually becomes normal. Preflight inspection tasks like wiggling control surfaces, sampling fuel and checking the engine meet this test. In addition to verifying the paperwork, checking weather and TFRs, and a general walk-around, these tasks are the ones we (should) perform before each flight.
But familiarity breeds contempt, and I’d be willing to bet someone out there has a bell curve demonstrating the effectiveness of a preflight inspection peaks around the time we earn our private certificate. When we’re still a student, part of the curriculum includes how to conduct a preflight inspection, what to examine and how. After that, we’re on our own for the most part, and often abbreviate our preflight inspection of aircraft with which we’re familiar. It’s not the smartest thing, but we do it anyway
