FlyingStone
19th Apr 2010, 20:45
Hi!
I've been discussing this topic with other pilots, who were trained in different flight schools by different instructors and I discovered that the usage of checklists varied from zero to maximum possible...
Many flight schools and instructors (mostly those who only train PPL students) think, that by looking at checklists in flight you divide your attention and therefore aren't fully focused on what you should be - flying, so the "best" and the "only" proper way is to learn normal operations checklists by heart, so that you don't get distracted during flight... So virtually, the entire flight takes place without single reference to checklists...
On the other hand, some flight schools use SOPs even for the most simple non-complex SEP aircraft (e. g. C172) and is taught from lesson no. 1 onwards and there are requirements to use standard checklists for all phases of flight (climb, cruise, descent, before landing, landing checklists), regardless of type of flight (even traffic patterns).
My opinion is that the best way lies somewhere in between... No checklists at all way seems to leave quite large opportunity for error (forgetting items or their order in checklists), while on the other hand doing 5 checklists for every traffic pattern actually distracts you from flying... I also believe that for every flight student that wants to do CPL/IR later, the best way to learn checklists/SOP adherence is that he is taught that from first minute of the flight during PPL course, since it is easy to learn something from scratch than forgetting one philosophy and than learning something you already know - just the other way...
What do you think?
I've been discussing this topic with other pilots, who were trained in different flight schools by different instructors and I discovered that the usage of checklists varied from zero to maximum possible...
Many flight schools and instructors (mostly those who only train PPL students) think, that by looking at checklists in flight you divide your attention and therefore aren't fully focused on what you should be - flying, so the "best" and the "only" proper way is to learn normal operations checklists by heart, so that you don't get distracted during flight... So virtually, the entire flight takes place without single reference to checklists...
On the other hand, some flight schools use SOPs even for the most simple non-complex SEP aircraft (e. g. C172) and is taught from lesson no. 1 onwards and there are requirements to use standard checklists for all phases of flight (climb, cruise, descent, before landing, landing checklists), regardless of type of flight (even traffic patterns).
My opinion is that the best way lies somewhere in between... No checklists at all way seems to leave quite large opportunity for error (forgetting items or their order in checklists), while on the other hand doing 5 checklists for every traffic pattern actually distracts you from flying... I also believe that for every flight student that wants to do CPL/IR later, the best way to learn checklists/SOP adherence is that he is taught that from first minute of the flight during PPL course, since it is easy to learn something from scratch than forgetting one philosophy and than learning something you already know - just the other way...
What do you think?