see, there you UND guys go again trying to say who is "better".... you guys sure are quick to defend everything about UND!! :clap:
Hold on, you complained that people were putting words in your mouth and now you are doing the same. In almost every post where I speak up about what you guys complain about UND I make it very clear there are things that could be better. Now, I realize my opinion doesn't have to be shared by everyone and not everyone sees the world through my eyes, but IMHO you guys complain about things that really have no merit and I don't think you have done any real research into why things are the way they are.
I think most of you that do the most complaining have some kind of axe to grind with the people from the Grand Forks area, for one reason or another. You seem to think that bashing UND is some way of getting even or taking a parting shot at GFK and ND/the region as a whole. To me it is evident in the numerous references to "lack of culture" "never travelling farther than MSP" etc.
I don't mean to pick on you TX, but since your position is the major point of this thread, you become collatoral damage. I am assuming you haven't done your research on how or why the FAA suggests a checklist be designed (albeit it is for 121 and 135). I would argue that a checklist for a 121/135 operator would be very good for a private operator. If you had done your homework and read the document the FAA has on checklist design and function you would see that your author, whom I doubt has read the document either, is preaching the very same thing the FAA does about checklist usage/design. It is common sense stuff. The problem comes from people who, through a combination of factors and some of the big ones being; don't use checklist, make up procedures on the fly, are not standard, etc. We end up with documents that are designed to take the thinking out and replace it with automation because a vast majority of people just don't get it. You are absolutely correct, you don't need a checklist to tell you to use flaps or not for takeoff, common sense, but look up the DTW NWA crash.
For almost every example of not neading a checklist you can provide, I bet I can provide a crash of either a highly experience 121 crew or some weekend warrior bug smasher destroying a perfectly good airplane. If you think those people did that on purpose, were just that dumb and that it has no chance of happening to you, then I can't help you or debate with you, you are delusional (that isn't a slam).
Now, back to the UND thing. You guys want to bash UND, go right ahead, last time I checked, it is still a free country (hopefully it stays that way for the next 3 or so years). Those of us who had different experiences and different takes on things will be right there to balance it out. It isn't UND cheerleading, it isn't argueing for the sake of argueing, it is balancing the debate. If everyone had the horrible experience(s) you guys had, UND would be out of business already, contract students be damned, if everyone had the same experience(s) I had, UND wouldn't need contract students and flight costs would be cheaper than basket weaving 101.
If you think 1 season of flying the line (be it airlines, corporate, mapping, etc) has given you the foundation on which to judge a training program you really need to check your egoes, you have infinite more stuff to learn and experience.