I think they are a good idea because the handles on a tandem rig are different then they are on a sport rig, to me it is a totally different motion to grab the handles on a sport rig then on a tandem rig. On my sport rig my elbows are close to my body and my motion would be down towards my inner thighs, with a tandem my elbows are higher, my shoulders are shrugged up a bit and the motion is down towards my outer thigh. Yes the handles could be in a different location under a spinning mal then they would be in freefall but all those checks do make a difference, I can't remember looking at my handles during my EPs but my hands always seem to go to the right place. I had 3000 tandems before my first mal, so I had a ton of handle checks before I had to do it for real.
