Let's hear what you've adopted into your routines.

[FloridaMan]

I'm so often impressed when I fly with another pilot in my plane and they show me something that I didn't know about. I'd like to get a thread going on what you guys use for efficiency and redundancy in your routines. I'm a low-time pilot with an instrument rating and about 500 hours (200 of those in my Mooney). My own contributions may be trivial to many of you, but I'd like to see what you more experienced guys can offer to the rest of us. 

 

On the Garmin 530, when coming into an airport on a visual approach, I press the OBS button and tune my HSI to my landing runway to give myself an extended centerline. It helps with pattern entry and runway identification. Also on the GNS, in the second page of the moving map, if you press the right knob to get the cursor and move it to within the confines of a section of airspace and press ENT when the boundary highlights, you can review the airspace altitudes without having to break out your charts. 

 

I have a '67F with hydraulic flaps. I have a mental checklist I use in addition to my paper checklist as I turn onto the runway -- sortof like a GUMPs check on landing. Sometimes you'll get a tower controller that rushes you onto the runway with a "no delay" on departure after you've waited a while; you've done your pretakeoff checks, but you might have leaned the engine (which, if I do, it's very aggressively so that it'll die if I put in power), or not fully engaged your flap hydraulic switch to where they've come back up after you've set them. My turn onto the runway is accompanied by what I call verifying the "three 3s." Trim; Flaps; Fuel Selector - Fuel pump; lights; transponder - Prop, mixture, throttle. 

[gregwatts]

If you are on a visual approach, you should be looking out the window for other traffic.....not playing with the GPS. There are too many ......even lower time......pilots flying around with 2 GPS and an Ipad, not looking out the window....that you have to watch for them! Set your GPS up early so that you can be practicing "see and avoid".

As far as takeoff........you should not be at the hold short point until you are READY to take off. READY means checklist complete...except for any runway items, such as fuel pump. When you are holding short, the controller assumes that you are ready to go.

 

 

 

My opinion only!

[Jamie]

On the Garmin 530, when coming into an airport on a visual approach, I press the OBS button and tune my HSI to my landing runway to give myself an extended centerline. It helps with pattern entry and runway identification.

My instructor just showed me this. I'm not used to flying here. Look at a map of KHSV. Redstone Arsenal's runway is really close to 18L. Tower cleared us for 18L and I lined up on Redstone (which would be a Bad Idea). He showed me the OBS trick and I'm using that at unfamiliar fields from now on. Takes the guesswork completely out of stuff like "report 2 mile left base for XXX" if you've never been there before.

[Rwsavory]

Just before rolling onto the runway I double check fuel pump, mixture and flaps.  On short final it's GUMP and I point to gear light and johnson bar to verify.

[Jamie]

Back on topic, the checklist my instructor gave me for his mooney has lots of additions. Its in the plane right now, but one I remember is to make sure the manual gear extension cover(?) is latched. On the J, this is a red bar that covers the handle which you pull to manually extend the gear. He said back seat passengers can sometimes kick it loose getting in the back.

There should be lots of these additions to the POH checklists... I'd have more except I'm not at the hangar.

[Jamie]

Oooh. On shutdown / putting the plane away, double check cabin light switches.

[dcrogers11]

My Instuctor told me once that if you leave the rotating beacon switched on after shutdown that you would never leave the master on after putting plane up for the night. 

[FloridaMan]

My Instuctor told me once that if you leave the rotating beacon switched on after shutdown that you would never leave the master on after putting plane up for the night. 

 

I leave my strobe switch on for the same reason (I have no beacon). The beacon trick saved me on a rental 172 once. I was sitting inside, and I look out and there it is, glowing away. I started doing the strobe switch after showing someone my D1 I forgot to kill my master switch and had to get a jump. It's never on shut down, it was when I reached inside the plane to show something, got distracted in conversation and walked away. 

 

Also, on short final, I pick my feet up off the floor and wiggle the rudder to ensure I'm loose. Maybe it's just psychological, but I swear my landings in crosswinds and gusty conditions are infinitely better when I do this. 

[WardHolbrook]

I'll do an additional mag check as I'm taxiing to parking. It's much more convenient to uncover a mag problem at the end of a flight than at the beginning of one. 

[AmigOne]

For me there are two different routines depending whether I'm launching or landing VFR or IFR, the later longer and obviously more critical.  I wholly concur that on a VFR approach the attention should be concentrated outside the cockpit keeping the distractions with the gadgets to a minimum.  I always felt that way and specially since a tragic midair occurred a few miles from my airport.  Initial reporting indicated that in one of the aircrafts one of the pilots was under the hood.  Both pilots were very experienced.  On landing I always make my first radio transmission 10 miles out, indicating distance, location and altitude and at 5 miles out I should be at pattern altitude, taking off I make sure that I report the direction of flight. 

I have the Mooney factory checklist both for t/o and landings attached on the left side panel right in front of my eyes and that is what I follow with a couple of rechecks on the landing gear and a visual check of the flaps.   

[bnicolette]

My turn onto the runway is accompanied by what I call verifying the "three 3s." Trim; Flaps; Fuel Selector - Fuel pump; lights; transponder - Prop, mixture, throttle. 

 

One thing I don't do is mess with the fuel selector right before takeoff.  Verifying it's position is fine if that's what your were talking about, but I don't think I would go switching it right before departure.  I always select it to the fullest tank (or the tank I wish to run off of first) right before start up so that there is plenty of time for a problem to occur during the taxi out.

[bd32322]

I finish all my other checks before doing the run up, so as to get decent oil temps.

After shutdown, I coat the prop with 3 in 1 multipurpose oil to protect it from moisture.

I also open the oil access door to help cool the engine faster.

[wishboneash]

For runway orientation on a visual approach, I visually superimpose the runway direction on the HSI to see orientation with respect to pattern entries. No need to touch the GPS. I usually don't descend to pattern altitude until around 2 miles or less from the runway. I also don't fly slow approaching the airport which forces me to lower gear within around 4 miles.

[Jeff_S]

Here's one I added to my repertoire after the commuter jet crash at Lexington KY. After I've got my flight plan dialed in, I turn the HSI to the heading of the first leg, but turn the heading bug to the departure runway heading. This isn't a huge deal when departing out of the home drome, but when leaving from an unfamiliar airport it's just another check that I'm at the right runway before I pour on the coals.

[Oscar Avalle]

I'm so often impressed when I fly with another pilot in my plane and they show me something that I didn't know about. I'd like to get a thread going on what you guys use for efficiency and redundancy in your routines. I'm a low-time pilot with an instrument rating and about 500 hours (200 of those in my Mooney). My own contributions may be trivial to many of you, but I'd like to see what you more experienced guys can offer to the rest of us. 

 

On the Garmin 530, when coming into an airport on a visual approach, I press the OBS button and tune my HSI to my landing runway to give myself an extended centerline. It helps with pattern entry and runway identification. Also on the GNS, in the second page of the moving map, if you press the right knob to get the cursor and move it to within the confines of a section of airspace and press ENT when the boundary highlights, you can review the airspace altitudes without having to break out your charts. 

 

I have a '67F with hydraulic flaps. I have a mental checklist I use in addition to my paper checklist as I turn onto the runway -- sortof like a GUMPs check on landing. Sometimes you'll get a tower controller that rushes you onto the runway with a "no delay" on departure after you've waited a while; you've done your pretakeoff checks, but you might have leaned the engine (which, if I do, it's very aggressively so that it'll die if I put in power), or not fully engaged your flap hydraulic switch to where they've come back up after you've set them. My turn onto the runway is accompanied by what I call verifying the "three 3s." Trim; Flaps; Fuel Selector - Fuel pump; lights; transponder - Prop, mixture, throttle. 

 

Hugo,

 

I like your idea to dial in the OBS in your 530. I don't think that it takes away you attention from the outside. It just helps if you get disoriented, in particular in an unfamiliar area.

 

I fly out of a lot of grass strips and very basic airports, so one thing I do before landing is to overfly the field at about pattern altitude to ensure that there are no people and/or animals, cars, carriages, food vendors or other obstacles on the field. (once I went to a city on a Sunday and they had a mass going on on the runway...obviously I returned home..Another tip, would be to double check if there is fuel available...

 

Instead of timing before changing tanks, I use my JPI to tell me when I have burned 10 gal, then I change tanks. This way I always know how much I have in each tank without having to do too much math. 

[John Pleisse]

The Mooney cabin is small and I am big, so I merge checklists, flight plans and space to write down clearances, vectors, etc....all on one clever document I authored in MS Publisher. It helps.

[jetdriven]

One thing I don't do is mess with the fuel selector right before takeoff.  Verifying it's position is fine if that's what your were talking about, but I don't think I would go switching it right before departure.  I always select it to the fullest tank (or the tank I wish to run off of first) right before start up so that there is plenty of time for a problem to occur during the taxi out.

 

I do the same, the fuel selector check before startup, and don't change tanks until top of climb. I also plan an ~8 gallon fuel imbalance (and if needed, run a tank dry to get it), and switch the fuel selector to that fullest tank at top of descent. I dont touch the fuel selector again for the rest of the flight after that.  Searching for fuel below cruise altitude can get ugly.

[Marauder]

An instructor taught me LIFT just as a final check while getting on the runway. L = Lights, I = Instruments (engine temps, mag heading matches runway), F = Flaps, Fuel Boost Pump on (pressure good, selector not on OFF), T = Trim, Transponder and Time off.

[Hank]

I was taught early in my primary training to always verify that the number on the runway matches the number on the compass before taking off. I have once or twice been distracted and missed setting the DG during runup, this will often catch it and is why I use the compass to confirm runway heading.

 

On every landing, I always verify handle position and green light on base and final, and I like to double-check the floor indicator on final, too. There's no need to pick my feet up off the floor because they're on the rudders coordinating the turns, and straight in approaches are very infrequent for me. On short final I often re-confirm gear switch position by touch and recheck the green light. I also calculate my short final speed no later than downwind, so I know the number to shoot for [75 mph at gross - 5mph per 300 lbs. under gross].

 

When rolling wings-level on final, I call out the PAPI/VASI lights if they are present & operating, and adjust flaps if high or power if low.

 

Other than that, I've just rearranged the factory checklist items to make a good right-to-left flow pattern and added in items for modern avionics [no more Radio--ON; it's Avionics Master--ON; set GPS; etc.].

[bd32322]

regarding the gear - I try and use it as much as I can as a speedbrake when approaching the airport environment and slow down to Cherokee speeds. Its inefficient but hopefully that will prevent a gear up.

 

also its much easier to remember to do something when not in the busy airport environment. The traffic pattern is where I have gotten distracted with traffic etc and almost forgot to lower the gear - but thankfully caught it before I could really mess up

[FloridaMan]

One thing I don't do is mess with the fuel selector right before takeoff.  Verifying it's position is fine if that's what your were talking about, but I don't think I would go switching it right before departure.  I always select it to the fullest tank (or the tank I wish to run off of first) right before start up so that there is plenty of time for a problem to occur during the taxi out.

 

I'm the same way on this. But verifying that it's on the fullest tank is part of the final check. I've never missed it because I set it at startup. I always check my oil, look in my tanks and sump on the first flight of the day. I also sump after refueling if the new fuel has enough time to settle. I always check the oil and look in the tanks on every flight, even though I have wing gauges. People do steal fuel. It happened out here a couple years back. It was a painter on the field going around taking fuel out of people's planes. 

[brettinlj]

Might be a little too general and obvious, but during the run-up before every takeoff I form a plan for what I would do during an engine failure immediately after takeoff and in the initial upwind climb, specific to that airport, runway, and current conditions. This way I have the plan of action in mind before I push in the throttle. For example, if there is no traffic on a freeway next to an airstrip versus a time when it is rush hour, if there is a field I know about, if there is a body of water, etc.

 

Assuming an engine failure is a habit I got into more often after being put through the ringer in simulators when I used to fly commercial; more often than not something would go wrong on takeoff in that box. 

[midlifeflyer]

 tune my HSI to my landing runway to give myself an extended centerline. It helps with pattern entry and runway identification. 

 

 

For runway orientation on a visual approach, I visually superimpose the runway direction on the HSI to see orientation with respect to pattern entries. 

 

These are all related. Setting the HSI (or bug on a DG) to the runway heading on both takeoff and landing assists with runway identification and orientation and, on a dark rainy night with runways close together, can prevent runway incursions as well. 

[Hondo]

I would suggest adding review of DP to your pretakeoff checklist.

If a published Departure Procedure exists, it is the pilot's responsibility to review it prior to takeoff.

It is not part of your ATC clearance and ATC is not required to warn you.

If you takeoff in IMC and hit a tower, it is your fault.

[FlyDave]

Two for me:

1. I got my power rating in Los Angeles so, after pulling out on the runway it's
   1. Lights (0bvious)
   2. Camera (Transponder code/Alt/On)
   3. Action (Mixture appropriate for field elevation/DA)
2. Before entering the pattern VFR, I turn the OBS on my HSI to the runway heading. I fly the tail on downwind and the tip on final. It can help to keep my pattern square.