I'm Developing a Checklist and Would Like Input

jwp_145

GhostRider in the Sky
My employer has asked me to develop a new checklist for their flight school. THey will be for a 172R, 172R(G1000), 172SP(G1000), 172RG, and Be-76 Duchess.

I've flown all of these aircraft extensively and know how I would like things done, but I know my way isn't always the best.

If you could please list things you have seen that you DO and DON'T like in the Cessna factory checklist. I think I have the Duchess covered already.

Thank yo in advance.


JWP
 
Think about creating the checklist so that they flow well. The 172SP that I fly has on the after landing checklist "Wing Flaps - Retract" as the only item. That is the only item on the checklist. I teach my students to go from left to right with the flow, switches, trim, mixture, flaps and transponder for the after landing checklist.

GUMPS is a must as well. That is fairly universal and should be in the checklist.
 
Check out http://freechecklists.net/ and look at some of them. Also, when developing a checklist, you might want to put a disclaimer on there or something to protect yourself. Not sure how it works in the Pt. 91/141 world, but does it have to be approved by the FAA?
 
Well I'm assuming (which I try not to do), that they will be approved with our TCO revision, as we are a 141 school. Of course the POH will still be in the aircraft, so these are more like Quick Reference checklists.

Definitely going to incorporate flows. The challenging part will be incorporating those flows into the Bezeled G1000 buttons, as it has been a few months since I've been in one.
 
Just a note on automation and checklists...

Try to set it up so that all the automation is set BEFORE you start the checklist and all the checklist is doing is simply verifying that certain things are set.

For example, between actually starting the plane and running your after start checklist you would load everything into the G1000 that you will need (flight plan, fuel, freqs etc) as a flow. All you will do on the checklist is verify it's done. That way you aren't breaking up the flow of the checklist to spin switches.
 
Just a note on automation and checklists...

Try to set it up so that all the automation is set BEFORE you start the checklist and all the checklist is doing is simply verifying that certain things are set.

For example, between actually starting the plane and running your after start checklist you would load everything into the G1000 that you will need (flight plan, fuel, freqs etc) as a flow. All you will do on the checklist is verify it's done. That way you aren't breaking up the flow of the checklist to spin switches.

Yeah. I've never flown in the airlines, but as I understand it, you guys do a flow that covers everything, then the checklist simply confirms all of that, right?
 
Just what ever you do, please don't make it "How to fly the 172/RG/Duchess for Dummies"!!!

For example:

"Runway Items
CENTERLINE................LINE UP
POWER.........................MAXIMUM
BRAKES.......................RELEASE
ROTATE......................Vr
LANDING GEAR................RETRACT"

uh....reeeeeeally necessary?

Also, depending on your POI, you won't need to get your checklist "approved" necessarily. As long as everything that's required is there (I think it's before start, before takeoff, before landing and shut down. Emergency procedures comes to mind for multi-engine and/or retracts.) you can add as much as you want on to it.

Good luck & have fun!

-mini
 
There's a great Advisory Circular, as well as my fav FAA pub, the 8900 with some great references, as well as criteria the inspectors use to evaluate compliance of checklists.

I'd post some links, but the innerweb is uber-slow here in MIA.

it's all at www.faa.gov

Have fun!!
 
for me it's all about flows. for example the 172 interior preflight checklist goes:

...
Avionics off
master on
fuel gauge check
avionics on
avionics off
static source check
annunc. lights check
fuel selector - both
fuel shut off - in
flaps extend
...

can you say ADD?

Seriously? How about a freakin flow?

...
Master - on
Fuel quant. check
annun. lights check
flaps down
beacon check
master off
...

it's a clockwise flow that makes sense.

once you have the power on, do the preflight power things, then turn the damn thing off.

That's my $.02 - make your checklist according to what makes sense. Far too many pilots don't have it to begin with.
 
I'd personally stick with the manufacturer-approved checklists in the FAA-approved flight manual. Why take on the additional liability for yourself of making sure all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed. Last thing I'd want is to be drug into court after an accident to explain why my techniques are better than the procedures that have been approved to operate the airplane. The official checklists are written a certain way for a reason; I'm not a technical publications expert, so you can't pay me enough to write stuff like that. If you are going to undertake this, please at least go through whatever steps are required to get it approved (i.e. your POI should stamp and sign each and every page of every checklist used in aircraft operation).

I didn't used to be this way, but after seeing plenty of people get burned by the little things, I take every action from the assumption I'm going to eventually have to explain myself to a judge, jury, my boss, and/or the FAA. And I never say anything on a CVR recording or over the radio that I don't want published in an NTSB accident report for everyone to read.
 
I'd personally stick with the manufacturer-approved checklists in the FAA-approved flight manual. Why take on the additional liability for yourself of making sure all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed. Last thing I'd want is to be drug into court after an accident to explain why my techniques are better than the procedures that have been approved to operate the airplane. The official checklists are written a certain way for a reason; I'm not a technical publications expert, so you can't pay me enough to write stuff like that. If you are going to undertake this, please at least go through whatever steps are required to get it approved (i.e. your POI should stamp and sign each and every page of every checklist used in aircraft operation).

I didn't used to be this way, but after seeing plenty of people get burned by the little things, I take every action from the assumption I'm going to eventually have to explain myself to a judge, jury, my boss, and/or the FAA. And I never say anything on a CVR recording or over the radio that I don't want published in an NTSB accident report for everyone to read.


:yeahthat:

Smart.
 
If I were developing checklists for use by others (as opposed to designing them for myself), I'd start with figuring out if it was meant to be comprehensive or condensed.

For a flight school, I'd guess comprehensive, in which case my focus would be on (1) adding important/school-specific operational items to the manufacturer's checklist (for example, the checklists at flight schools in Colorado typically have leaning tasks added after start up, before takeoff, before landing and after landing and (2) making the checklists more user-friendly.

It's really the second one that's the real challenge since, we're not just talking fonts and colors but perhaps rearranging tasks into logical flow patterns and not making the thing too complicated. The goal is to make it usable - too much junk and the checklist gets put aside.

The liability issue mentioned by others comes down to this - a user-friendly checklist will usually have some task consolidation, but if an incident happens because of the failure to perform a manufacturer's checklist item, it's arguably a 91.9(a) violation, and could theoretically result in school liability I don't think it's a huge deal but it exists. That's why checklist manufacturers tend to state somewhere something like (varying degrees of length and detail), "This checklist is not a substitute for the POH. AFM, or other official source of operating information."

Good luck.
 
I'd personally stick with the manufacturer-approved checklists in the FAA-approved flight manual. Why take on the additional liability for yourself of making sure all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed. Last thing I'd want is to be drug into court after an accident to explain why my techniques are better than the procedures that have been approved to operate the airplane. The official checklists are written a certain way for a reason; I'm not a technical publications expert, so you can't pay me enough to write stuff like that. If you are going to undertake this, please at least go through whatever steps are required to get it approved (i.e. your POI should stamp and sign each and every page of every checklist used in aircraft operation).

I didn't used to be this way, but after seeing plenty of people get burned by the little things, I take every action from the assumption I'm going to eventually have to explain myself to a judge, jury, my boss, and/or the FAA. And I never say anything on a CVR recording or over the radio that I don't want published in an NTSB accident report for everyone to read.

Well it's not like I'm going to be putting "Developed by: JWP" on the bottom!!!!! They will be the school's checklists, so they would have the burden of liability.

As for the type of checklist, I've known from day 1 that I am going to make them 'flow' oriented, and they are going to be condensed. Dimensions will be knee-board size, and the requirements are that they be one page front and back.
 
I'd personally stick with the manufacturer-approved checklists in the FAA-approved flight manual. Why take on the additional liability for yourself of making sure all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed. Last thing I'd want is to be drug into court after an accident to explain why my techniques are better than the procedures that have been approved to operate the airplane. The official checklists are written a certain way for a reason; I'm not a technical publications expert, so you can't pay me enough to write stuff like that. If you are going to undertake this, please at least go through whatever steps are required to get it approved (i.e. your POI should stamp and sign each and every page of every checklist used in aircraft operation).

I didn't used to be this way, but after seeing plenty of people get burned by the little things, I take every action from the assumption I'm going to eventually have to explain myself to a judge, jury, my boss, and/or the FAA. And I never say anything on a CVR recording or over the radio that I don't want published in an NTSB accident report for everyone to read.


Well for a small airplane then that’s fine but when you get into larger aircraft it makes much more sense to tailor a checklist to your operations. We have a Challenger and a Hawker, both of which I had to make checklist for. Take the Challenger for instance the checklist was written by engineers and it has the pilot all over the place and can be very confusing to newer guys. We took the factory checklist and tried to make it user friendly for the pilot and also in the process we decreased the time the airplane is sitting on the ramp with the engines running. The faster you can perform the checklist the less fuel the airplane is burning just sitting on the ramp. Also if the company is paying for a corporate aviation department, then they will most likely want the travel to me as quickly as possible and even small things as making a checklist flow quicker can shave a few minutes off the flight. Another reason was to make the transition between airplanes a little smoother. If one checklist has the pilot going from left to right on the overhead panel checklist and the checklist for the other airplane has the pilot going from top to bottom then it can become confusing if you have been flying one airplane for 2 months then switch. Now obviously this approach doesnt work for every airplane but within reason we were able to move many of the items around on the checklist to a company standard. It’s just another way to standardize everything to reduce the possibility of mistakes.
 
That's a really sexist comment!!

Pants/skirt.................................................as required

:D


O.. I am sorry... better yet...

Skirt..........................................off
Pants.........................................ON
Smile..........................................Armed



Was that too sexist? I guess I will ask my wife, she just loves to hear about airplanes...:sarcasm:
 
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