Spot on Ivor! I don't want to be in the circuit with some chap looking at a check list or printed letters on a knee board trying to remember what to do next. I want some one whose head is up and eyes are outide the cockpit.
The proper approach to check lists in basic aeroplanes was taught me by my instructor. I'd bought one to look keen before I started my lessons. When he saw it he said, 'what do you think you're going to learn in a bloody airliner'. He threw it in the bin.
His view point was that in simple aeroplanes it should not be beyond the ability of a pilot to learn his machine properly. A scan bottom left round to bottom right did the trick.