What is your checklist usage?

[KB4]

Where is the MS community on Checklists and Flow Checks?

My last BFR which I found our is now just FR since FAA encouraging annual FR, instructor always asks anything me you want to practice since you have me sitting right seat?  CFii said he had a Cirrus guy that responded "I want to practice hand flying."  lmao  kinda scary.

[carusoam]

I have lots of things memorized...

Flow is a great way to go through all things... left to right, top to bottom...

Check list to make sure I got everything...

Updated checklists personalized for my plane...

 

Everything that can be done so a check list doesn’t become a todo list...

 

Fly with other MSers... the best way to see how your friends are handling this homework assignment...

PP thoughts only, not a CFI...

Best regards,

-a-

[RobertGary1]

Checklists must be short to be effective. These FBOs with a 3 page checklist for a 172 runup are missing an important point. They are increasing by the chance of the most important items to be missed, buried among the excess. I’ve seen many students miss items on long checklists. Few piston planes need more than gumps for landing. 

Edited February 6, 2021 by RobertGary1

[Andy95W]

I wasn’t sure how to answer.  Do I use checklists and flows? Yes.  Do I pull out the paper checklist? Only when someone else is in the airplane with me (possible distractions).  And I use the same list for all phases of flight, but of course the action is different based upon the particular phase.  This works great for simple airplanes like our Mooneys.  My car is more complex than my M20C, for Pete’s sake.

My checklist items:

After start - R.A.I.N.

     R-radios

     A-altimeter 

     I-instruments

     N-navigation

Before take-off - C.A.R.T.

     C-controls

     A-autopilot

     R-runup

     T-trim

All phases of flight - G.U.M.P.F.L.

     G-gas (including carb heat)

     U-undercarriage

     M-Mixture

     P-prop

     F-flaps (cowl and wing)

     L-lights (including transponder)

[hammdo]

My initial landing ck is BGCUMPFS

Boost Pump - on

Gas - fullest

Carb Heat - as needed

Undercarriage - down

Mixture - full rich

Prop - full in max rpm

Flaps (cowl included)

Seatbelts/Switches

its basically a flow in order too (cowl flaps to seat belts/switches are reverse flow after flaps ready ;o)

Then GUMPFS on base and final

ck list other times

GEAR is always my first move entering the pattern or staying in the pattern (per Don Kayes method for in pattern work)

- Don

[Ross Statham]

Good topic.  Funny thing is that once I learned the hows and whys of flow and checklists in aviation, I started adding them to other parts of my life- from creating written procedures at work, to things as inane as getting ready to start up my pickup truck and go into town, and even using left to right flow with the washer and dryer controls when doing my laundry.    

We’ve also had some other good discussions here about creating your own checklist for your airplane with your equipment.   I’m a believer in those and continue to refine mine even after all these years.

I still use memory aids in the cockpit of course, especially pre-landing call outs, climb-out call out, and FAF call-out.  Those supplement my checklist.  I assume that’s a good idea.  Sure helps me, anyway.

[PT20J]

I have a written check list I made that includes normal and emergency items for all phases of flight, but I only use it for before takeoff items. Once airborne, I use mneumonic checklists for everything. I've picked up a bunch of useful mnemonics from various sources over the years (attached).

Skip

Mnemonic Checklists.doc

[gsxrpilot]

I created some cards, printed both side, and laminated with a ring through the corner. Each card is for a specific check list. I run through my flow and then glance at the card to ensure I didn't miss anything.... At least that's how I demonstrated it for the last DPE that was in the right seat. Other times it stays in the seat back pocket, or in the flight bag, or I'm sure it's around here somewhere.

I've been regularly taking check lists and reducing them to the important things only. My before landing checklist has one item on it. GEAR. Everything else is on condition as needed.

[EricJ]

3 hours ago, PT20J said:

I have a written check list I made that includes normal and emergency items for all phases of flight, but I only use it for before takeoff items. Once airborne, I use mneumonic checklists for everything. I've picked up a bunch of useful mnemonics for various sources over the years (attached).

Skip

Mnemonic Checklists.doc 28.5 kB · 2 downloads

I was just gonna say I learned CIFFTRS when I first started flying and never forgot it.   It's still my pre-takeoff mnemonic checklist.   Some of the other ones you have in there are really good, too.

I have my pre-start checklist laminated and keep it in the passenger seat back.  It is the factory checklist with a few things added specific to the airplane or from experience (like item 0. Baggage door secure,  before item 1, so that if it is open I can cure it without interrupting the checklist).

The IFD540 has a handy utility and organizer for checklists, so I have a few useful things in there, like passenger briefing, climbout, cruise, etc., which I access as needed.  The climbout and cruise are actually useful so that I have a way to double check things like I turned the AV-17 on, cowl and wing flaps are where they need to be, boost pump is off, etc.   I can't turn the AV-17 on before takeoff or it'll constantly complain about low vacuum.

I do like Paul and just have *GEAR* as my pre-landing checklist and everything else as needed.   About the only other things to remember, if needed, are the boost pump and cowl flaps, neither of which is overly problematic if you do forget them.

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by EricJ

[carusoam]

Checklists are helpful everywhere you go... before you go...

How about the send the kids to school check list...

 Don’t forget getting older and your memory isn’t as strong... flow works there as well...

Your Levi’s typically have four pockets... there is something in each one... start in the front left and work your way around...

There is a spare fabric face mask in the back... for emergency use... (update for 2020)

Life is better, because you are a Mooney pilot...

Best regards,

-a-

[PT20J]

Checklists are really interesting. I think it is best to have a philosophy for their use before creating one. I've attached a chapter from Bob Buck's Flying Know-How about this.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Asaf Degani who did a lot of research into checklist and procedure design and authored several reports on the subject for NASA. You can find them with Google if you're interested.

Thirty years ago I also had the good fortune to know Peter Morton who led the team that designed the flight deck for the 757/767. Boeing had a philosophy to maximize SOPs and minimize checklists. Airlines usually create their own checklists, but Boeing had an FAA-approved one that got delivered with the airplanes. The pre-landing checklist, as I recall, had only two items. One was Spoilers  - Armed.  I've forgotten the other, but it was not Landing Gear.

CIFFTRS, I believe, was invented by Richard Taylor and first presented in his book Fair Weather Flying which I recall reading in college in the 1970's. Lot's of other good tips in that book also. It is amazing how often over the years I have seen that sequence repeated in various checklists.

When I flew Beavers on floats for a part 135 operator we had a simple FAA-approved checklist. No one ever used it. It's a pretty simple airplane and during the summer season we were flying them six or so hours every day with the average leg being 45 minutes -- so lots of takeoffs and landings. But, being part 135, we were required to use it and when we had a FAA inspector ride along we had to. What we did was post it on the overhead above the windshield and point to it often. That seemed to satisfy the FAA since the inspector couldn't tell if we were actually reading it or not and it was too loud in there for him to ask. 

Skip

 

 

 

Buck - Checklists_20210206_0001.pdf

[EricJ]

4 minutes ago, PT20J said:

CIFFTRS, I believe, was invented by Richard Taylor and first presented in his book Fair Weather Flying which I recall reading in college in the 1970's. Lot's of other good tips in that book also. It is amazing how often over the years I have seen that sequence repeated in various checklists.

Fair Weather Flying was a staple when I was learning in the 70s, so that's probably where I picked it up, too, although I seem to recall the flying club I learned at taught it, probably because they used Fair Weather Flying as a common reference.   We sold a lot of copies out of our club facility.

4 minutes ago, PT20J said:

When I flew Beavers on floats for a part 135 operator we had a simple FAA-approved checklist. No one ever used it. It's a pretty simple airplane and during the summer season we were flying them six or so hours every day with the average leg being 45 minutes -- so lots of takeoffs and landings. But, being part 135, we were required to use it and when we had a FAA inspector ride along we had to. What we did was post it on the overhead above the windshield and point to it often. That seemed to satisfy the FAA since the inspector couldn't tell if we were actually reading it or not and it was too loud in there for him to ask. 

Skip

When I did my multi-engine rating the school had the single-engine checklists, including the secure engine checklist, placarded right in front of you on the panel.   That was awesome for training and the checkride.

[201er]

I didn’t know how to answer. It depends how you define checklist. Paper checklist? Panel mounted checklist? Memorized checklist? 
 

I mainly use the panel mounted checklist, flows, and memorized checklists. 
 

Just don’t forget to put the wheels out and pretty much everything else is negotiable in a Mooney.

[gsxrpilot]

2 minutes ago, 201er said:

Just don’t forget to put the wheels out and pretty much everything else is negotiable in a Mooney.

This!

[jetdriven]

The panel- mounted checklist seems to work pretty good

[Yetti]

The prior owner laminated the one from the Operators Manual.   The before takeoff section gets used if I have not been flying for awhile.    It is flow if I have been flying.   I would add to gear down   Always always check the trim before TO.   You will only forget to check it twice. 

[201er]

15 minutes ago, Yetti said:

The prior owner laminated the one from the Operators Manual.   The before takeoff section gets used if I have not been flying for awhile.    It is flow if I have been flying.   I would add to gear down   Always always check the trim before TO.   You will only forget to check it twice. 

I always return trim to TO after landing. Otherwise my plane might look silly taxiing around the ramp with the tail tilted over like that! That would be too embarrassing, can’t forget to set the trim back 

[jetdriven]

No to future paint jobs, don't have straight lines running across the bottom of the tail where it looks dumb ass if it's trimmed outside of the normal range.

[MB65E]

There was not a choice for...

“I try to use a checklist every time.”

Backed up by a flow.

I always use the checklist prior to flight. However, the only thing that matters on landing is the gear is down. I find my paper checklist a distraction once in the air. I need to mount it on the panel or something. 

Before TO: CIGARS. Controls, instruments,GAS, Attitude, Runup, Switches. 

If Equipped-  Before TO: 4Cs. Controls, Cowl flaps, Caps, Canopy. 

Landing- GMPG.  Gas,Mixture,Prop,Gear. This flows nicely with cockpit layout. I’ve never used GUMP. 
-Matt
 

 

[midlifeflyer]

4 hours ago, MB65E said:

I find my paper checklist a distraction once in the air. I need to mount it on the panel or something. 

I am going to bet this is the single most common rationale for lack of checklist use after takeoff. And I have been as bad in the past as anyone else about it, except:

1. I have almost always used a before landing checklist. In my case, a bad memory for numbers combined with flying multiple types (4 within the first  3 months of getting my private) makes it a necessity. While I can get away with landing based solely on look and feel, there is no way I trust myself to know my target airspeeds without a quick run through a checklist. 

2. A few years ago I went to an aging pilot presentation. Physician/pilot well into his 70s. His point about checklists was simple. Normal cognitive decline means developing good checklist procedures equals aviation longevity. Made sense to me and I have forced myself to get better at it. 

Only point: it's only a distraction if we decide it is, don't see a value in checklist use, and refuse to train ourselves. I still feel as you do, about electronic checklists. I don't use them because they are "distracting." But having seen other pilots use them - in every phase of flight - I know it's about desire and value, not distraction. 

[Amelia]

The noted physician/author Atul Gawande wrote a fine little book entitled A Checklist Manifesto, in praise of their utility, especially in surgery, his specialty. He stresses the discipline and useful orderliness in many other processes, with interesting stories and studies. I commend it to you. 

I always use my written, laminated preflight and takeoff checklist. It lives in the pocket by my left knee. It’s too easy to gloss over important stuff otherwise. The  clockwise scan before pushing the throttle in, making certain I actually saw the thing I pointed to, is part of the internal checklist  For landing, it’s gear-down midfield downwind or  by FAF. and GUMPS on short final. I don’t usually get the written one out for that.

 

 

[bradp]

I use the panel checklist mostly .  
 

Have my laminated one that I use pre departure. I just use that to make sure I haven’t been lazy doing a preflight.  
 

I’ve found that I could have a checklist for every action / phase in the plane, but the only ones that really matter are before takeoff and before landing.  I’ve made sure to make my before takeoff checklist try to match my panel checklist as much as possible, but I’ve had to add things to it over the years like autopilot and fuel totalizer (I can’t tell you my how many times I’ve forgotten to reset that until I put in in a darn checklist).  
 

For the routine stuff it’s a flow and can be backed up by a checklist.  And for emergencies it’s memory backed up by a checklist.  
 

Taxiing onto the runway I do a final ”what can kill me” check.  Gas, trim, flaps, controls, seats. Correct runway, correct headings. 
 

Try to keep it simple. 

[RobertGary1]

11 hours ago, EricJ said:Fair Weather Flying was a staple when I was learning in the 70s, so that's probably where I picked it up, too, although I seem to recall the flying club I learned at taught it, probably because they used Fair Weather Flying as a common reference.   We sold a lot of copies out of our club facility.

When I did my multi-engine rating the school had the single-engine checklists, including the secure engine checklist, placarded right in front of you on the panel.   That was awesome for training and the checkride.

On my commercial multi we had the giant book. The dpe asked me what I’d do if I lost an alternator. I was able to flip to that page (no autopilot). Then he asked what if I lost both. Got lucky and turned right to that page. 
For the esoteric emergencies it’s good to have checklists beyond the immediate memory items. 
The citation was the same. A few memory items ( fire, depressurization, etc). But after that each light had a page in the quick reference. On a chexkride you just needed to flip to the page in the book. 

[Yetti]

Here is a question for the "must use checklist" crowd.   How many times have you missed a step on the check list?    How do you resolve that?  Checklist to make sure you follow the check list?   Don't get me wrong in work day I draw business processes to help other understand.    There seems to be a balance between what's on the Mooney placard and the Flight school manual of check point items

 

[midlifeflyer]

4 hours ago, Yetti said:

Here is a question for the "must use checklist" crowd.   How many times have you missed a step on the check list?    How do you resolve that?  Checklist to make sure you follow the check list?   Don't get me wrong in work day I draw business processes to help other understand.    There seems to be a balance between what's on the Mooney placard and the Flight school manual of check point items

 

There are two completely different questions there.

Placard vs flight school checklists. Flight school checklists are notoriously bad. The are written for the lowest common denominator - a student pilot who has not flown in the past tree months. If it's an "advanced" airplane, there is still a lowest common denominator even if not a student. The result is checklists which tend to contain every detail regardless of importance to flight safety. And then there's formatting for ease of use. Or rather the lack thereof. That's why I fly with my own.

Missed a step which is on my checklist? Only if I didn't use it properly. 

Checklist to make sure you follow the check list? That's pretty much what I have been doing since I decided I needed to get better at it. Not quite a checklist about the checklist but a post flight self-evaluation: "how did I do with checklist use?"

If I have one gripe about my primary instructor is that he didn't do that. I was really bad about checklist use and almost always forgot to turn off the boost pump after takeoff. He would remind me. He should have done what I did years later to a transitioning student. "You forgot something" without saying what.