CHECKLISTS FOR LIFE

By Danny Taddei

In my formative years of flying I was fortunate enough to have had both very good and very bad flight instruction.  I was angry and disappointed at first though, because I viewed the bad instruction as unnecessary cost and aggravation.  I didn’t realize that mistakes are often the most important instruction that is available, (that is not to say that a student should go looking for a bad instructor, of course).  Later I realized that the bad instruction that I received had built a bank in my mind that will help keep my flying safe for the rest of my career.  My various experiences through the years have left me with a bit of knowledge that I’ve formed into a sort of checklist.  Thrown into the checklist are a few tads that the FAA has recommended and even a spec or two of Dad’s good advice.  All of it can be used from student pilot through to ATP.                        

As a pre-preflight and before I even walk out to the plane, I run through a ME-CHECKLIST that reads like this.

Health:

IllnessNone

MedicationNone (or FAA approved)

Stress3 deep breaths

AlcoholClear (8 hours bottle to throttle)

FatigueTank full (try a simple finger CO-ordination test)                             

EmotionsCalm

Mind Set:

Outside StressRemove Before Flight

Shortcuts Off

SafetyOn

ComplacencyOff

OptionFull open

Proficiency          Check

Social PressuresIgnore

ReflectionsWould you let your family fly with you?

ProfessionalismOn

Checklists for Life

Page Two

I found that really using this checklist and those for the plane, has kept other potentially deadly mistakes from happening.  We’ve all made mistakes.   As a good chess player always reviews his game, so should a good pilot review his flight.  To many times embarrassment or the feeling of inadequacy keep use from admitting our mistakes even to ourselves.  After I reviewed a few of my major blunders I concluded that they would have been avoided by using the “ME-CHECKLIST”.  Before I had formulated my list, I packed a few stupid experiences under my belt.  As embarrassed about them as I am, I feel that a few are so common place that it is worth sharing them with others who may fall pray in the same fashion. 

Country Fried Pilot:

For several months I had been teaching from a school that was and is contemptuous in its maintenance.  The C-152 that I had been using was gone but another that had just returned from annual was available.  My student and I got in the plane and without too much thought, used the 6 strokes of primer that had been recommended to us by the other instructors who where familiar with this plane.  For one brief moment I smelled gas and the shuttering reality set in that I wasn’t listening to my own advice.  The plane’s owner/operator handbook says to use 1 or 2 strokes.  Using 6 strokes should have been an obvious sign of something wrong.  A little more investigation revealed a tiny hole in the primer line that sprayed raw gasoline, out of view, onto one of the cylinder heads. Up until I found the leak, other pilots had been flying the plane with the hole in the line. In this instance there was no consequence, but I think most would agree it was only a matter of time before someone turned into a statistic.

I’m sure most pilots have heard the old sayings, you can’t use runway behind you, altitude above you, gas in the truck or knowledge in someone else’s head.  Add to that, don’t re-invent the wheel and take it to mean checklists know what they’re talking about.  As an instructor I tell every student too follow the checklist religiously.  The things really work.  Any discrepancy in the plane’s performance in comparison to the checklist for the plane should immediately be considered suspicious and any fixed base operator suggesting that a discrepancy should be ignored should receive strong reprimand.

Bonehead Award:

While training for my instrument ticket, I had an instructor eager to “get up there”.  (Apparently he forgot he was being paid by the hour).  My mind was on following my route assignment and as a consequence, we both forgot to do a pre-flight run-up.  About the time we reached the cloud base I realized our mistake and quickly brought it to the attention of my instructor.  Probably due to embarrassment he reached over and did a mag check as we went IMC.  To this day I still think that deserves the idiot of the decade award.  The safe thing to do at that time would have been to request an immediate landing and cancel IFR. 

I once was asked by a student, how long of a checklist should be used.  I said, how long would you like to live.  Though that may sound negative and even a little brutal, the true is that the more you add to your checklist, the less things you have to worry about going wrong by surprise.  You’ve heard there are old pilots and bold pilots but no such thing as old bold pilots.  There’s another thing you’ll never find and that’s an old complacent pilot.  Being a good pilot isn’t an easy task.  The law says you need to know a lot of information about where you’re going.  FAR 91.103 states “Each pilot-in-command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight...”.  It goes on to state specifics but the word ALL tells us if information is there, it’s our responsibility to know it.  To me, that means calling FSS for a briefing is only part of a total weather picture.  Asking a local or someone who has just landed, how the winds around a mountain peek were or about the wind shear just over the trees might be a worthwhile venture. All means knowing every piece of equipment on the plane and how to use.  It means sitting in the seat and without looking, being able to touch each switch and each control,  There’s enough there to keep you busy but it’s part of being a good pilot.  It should be part of your checklist.

Remember, that if you do get into trouble, a clear head might separate you from disaster and a checklist helps you to keep a clear head.  Don’t become a victim of complacently.  Keep all your skills high.  Using the “Me-Checklist” may help with the chore because it is a reminder of the broad scope of things.  We’re a smart breed of people.  We’ve got a lot on are minds.  It’s easy to pass over the obvious.  That’s why we’ve created checklists in the first place.

When you see an Accidents that ended as the plane was landing usually happened at take-off.  If you look at the NTSB reports that almost always say pilot error, you can almost always conclude that proper preparation was forgone.  If you can stand to, look back to a personal mistake and trace it back to the real root of the problem.  That exercise will open your eyes to a whole new way of thinking.  Also, next time you fly, make sure to evaluate your flight thoroughly. You will notice that a good flight instructor will conclude every lesson with a flight evaluation.  Finally, never hide from your mistakes.  Hiding from your mistakes will only raise the chances of repeating them.