Bumffichh

[Molesworth 1]

There seems to be a variation of what are considered essential pre-landing checks in a Cessna 152. I was taught:

B - Brakes (check there is pressure, but I was told by an instructor not to do this as it could cause the parking brake to come on)

U - Undercarriage ( it's fixed - so nothing to check)

M - Mixture - (check rich unless landing in Jo'burg or Mexico City or Everest Base Camp- I would consider this essential)

F - Fuel - (if you are low on fuel you should have realised this long ago)

F- Flaps (going to be playing with them on final approach anyway)

C- Carb Heat (I always set to HOT when reducing engine power in any case)

H - Hatches (good)

H- Harnesses (fasten seat belts if you've been walking around the back of the a/c for exercise)

Another list has

Seats, Belts & Harness .... Fasten & Adjusted
Landing Light..... On (Why is this not on the other list?)
Fuel Selector.....ON (who would have turned it off in flight?)
Mixture ............ Full Rich (as above)
Carburetor Heat ON (as above) below green RPM arc (interesting)
Flaps.............. As required (as above)

The one on my iphone has just -

Seat Belts ADJUST/LOCK
Mixture RICH
Carb Heat FULL

Is the full list really essential?. At an unfamiliar airfield when one is unexpectedly requested to join base leg (and change frequency from APP to TWR at the last minute) surely a priority is flying the airplane?

(Last example from recent bimble to Oxford to pick up Molesworth 2. Made a right charlie of myself by leaving their nice new runway onto their nicely mowed grass for 50 metres or so on my landing roll - first time I've ever done that!)

[maxdrypower]

It is not usually essential it is just the checks you carry out . Most training aircraft are a gazzillion years old and the checklists are tried and tested .
If you are in a position to be joining base leg , firstly your checks should have been completed already .
You are not going to be asked to turn base leg until the very earliest end of the DW leg anyway so checks done .
Your priority is always to fly the aircraft at every stage of flight not just the final portion , your checks are part and parcel of that flight .
The checks are there for you to follow , if you deem them not essential then that is up to you but eons of aviators and manufacturers have done so . Follow the checklist for your aircraft it is there for a reason .
Brakes (not just check pressure check they are off ) yes it does happen
Undercarriage , it may be fixed , but one day you might fly an aircraft that it isnt , good early habits stop bad ones developing
Mixture (obvious I hope)
Fuel ( dont just think about running out think about changing tanks if necessary) a few aircraft have had a bad day due to fuel starvation on take off and landing when the other tank was full (people miss changing tanks on freda too)
Flaps you may be playing with them on final approach but you can also lower them early too you may want a slower approach speed earlier , many many reasons why you might want flaps early. You may also want to check they are up , many a person has been GH with flaps down and forgotten about them , turn base leg , first stage ,,oops full flap
Carb Heat you may fly an aircraft without it , then all of a sudden you go back will you remember ??????
Hatches again obvious
Harnesses, perhaps like me you are a bit fat and loosen seatbelt in flight , downwind you can tighten it up again if necessary
.
There are many other reasons for these Im sure someone will come up with more .
If you only ever intend to fly a 152 then fine you do what you feel is right
But everything in avaition is done for a reason , well most things
Why would you be UNEXPECTADLY be asked to join anywhere you should or would know in plenty of time , never assume

[Genghis the Engineer]

For a C152, arguably you only need a small part of it.

An alternative is, for example, the standard microlight checks: FAWNTH

Fuel - sufficient for go-around & (if there's a control) mixture rich
Approach - clear or traffic known
Wind - correct for runway in use
Nosewheel - straight (a flexwing thing)
Throttle - hand-throttle closed
Harness - locked and tight for landing


But again, this wouldn't work for a C152 since your nosewheel and rudder are linked, and you don't have a foot-throttle. Yet these checks are routinely used by 3-axis microlights quite safely.


Which sort of makes the point. Light aircraft use a standard set of checks which work for the majority of aircraft, and microlights use a standard set of checks which work for the majority of aircraft.


The philosophy which has been adopted in much light aviation is to use standard checklists, adaptable to almost any aircraft in that class. And so for a C152 you use a checklist that will work for an Arrow, which is a much more complex aircraft.

There is a good case for using a more specific checklist - which is, for example, what the military normally do, as do operators of bigger aeroplanes. But, be prepared to then learn another set of checks every time you switch to another aircraft type.

But, you'll always be adapting any checklist to circumstance anyhow. To pick one obvious example, the C for Carb Heat would not apply to a PA28 on approach since the POH specifically says you shouldn't use it. Or on a fuel injected engine, you wouldn't have a carb heat control anyhow.

On the whole, I'd favour the use of standard checklists, whch are arguably OTT, but shouldn't let you down - so long as they're always used within an understanding of the aircraft that you are flying.

G

[Molesworth 1]

I get the point about the checklist being transferable to other aircraft. My excellent instructor also taught me to fly circuits in a way which would be applicable to all airfields and not by reference to specific landmarks. Most airfields have some complicated arrangement to avoid Farmer Joe's barn etc etc but I find if you stick to the basics and avoid flying over any villages (towns are ok - that's not where the posh complaining people live) you can't go far wrong.

She also included "Ts and Ps, all lights out" and "Suction and Ammeter" in her list.

[BackPacker]

BUMPFFITCHH

P is for Prop - full fine

I is for Instruments - QNH/QFE set, DI checked against compass

T is for trim - set

Another variations is the Reds, the Blues, the Greens and Cleared to land, used as final check in a complex aircraft.

Red - Mixture (full rich)
Blue - Prop (full fine)
Green - Gear down & locked
Cleared to land - obvious

My personal philosophy is eyes outside the cockpit when joining and flying the circuit. The aircraft flew itself there and as long as it's got a fixed undercarriage it will land just fine if you only retard the throttle. Keep it simple. So I do a FREDA (Fuel - Radio - Engine - Direction - Altitude) check well before approaching the field. Landing light on when approaching the circuit, fuel pump on below 1000', carb heat on below 2000 rpm, flaps are used as lift/drag controls so used as appropriate, ending in full flaps on short final and that's basically it.

[Mark1234]

just my 2cents:

It's a pre-landing check, I'll usually do it a few miles out when approaching somewhere cross country. (I use BUMFOHH, but it doesn't really matter what you use so long as it gets the necessaries!)

For me it's combined with a finger flow/touch each thing approach. Should take no more than 2-5 seconds to cover the lot - shouldn't be a significant problem to fit that in.

It can be very worthwhile working on your memory recall to be able to process it all double quick - the old sit in a chair with your eyes closed and visualise works great for this sort of stuff.

I also add PPUFF on final - Power(mixture, carb) Pitch(prop) Undecarridge Fuel(pump) Flaps. Paranoia to an extent, particularly on the simpler a/c, but it's saved me on one occasion; I regularly mix types, so like keep the routine the same across the bunch.

Actually, I just realised the one assumption I'm making, which might be contentious is I use the mnemonics as a mental checklist. I threw the paper one in the flight bag a long time back, and only ever refer to it preflight for a refresher if I've not flown that particular A/c for a while.

[bookworm]

One of the fundamental requirements for a good mnemonic is that the phonetic pronunciation of the word leads unambiguously to the initial letters of the checks. BUMPFFICHH fails miserably, thanks to the almost unpronounced P and the double F and H.

[S78]

BUMFFICHH works!!

Its been nearly 14 years since I had to make the painful decision to spend money on a mortgage rather than flying, yet I can still remember this mnemonic like it was yesterday!




S78

[wsmempson]

When training og a warrior, I was taught BMCFHCE which stood for

Brakes (off)
Mixture (rich)
Carb heat (on)
Fuel (pump on, check tank quantity)
Hatch and Harness (secure and done up)
Carb heat (off)
Engine (t's and p's ok?)

As a middle aged petrol head, the mnymonic was memorable as a British Motor Company Fixed Head Coupe with an Engine.

Then, when I converted to a complex, it became UBMCFHCE, which stood for

Undercarriage (down - are there three greens?)
Brakes (off)
Mixture (rich)
Carb heat (on - but not there because it's injected)
Fuel (pump on, check tank quantity)
Hatch and Harness (secure and done up)
Carb heat (off - because it's still not there)
Engine (t's and p's ok?)

The thinking was not to totally change a check-list that the pilot had memorised, but simply add another block.

You'll notice that 'Pitch' is missing, the logic being that it made no sense to suddenly pull full-fine pitch on the beginning of the downwind leg as firstly, you immediately acquired what amounted to an air-brake and, secondly, you risked over-speeding the engine - think how many times you've heard a beech/mooney/rockwell/arrow enter the circuit, lower it's gear, and then for the engine to suddenly go 'Weeeeeeee" as the pitch gets shoved full fine. Again, the thinking was that it made more sense to leave this until you pulled the power back on base-leg and the prop reverted to full-fine pitch anyway, because the low power put it out of the range of the governor anyway.

Then, on finals, you had the final "REDS, BLUES, GREENS" where you checked the levers and lights of those colours.
Red (mixture, full rich)
Blue (pitch full fine)
Green (three green lights)

In the end, though, it doesn't much matter which list you learn, just so long as you stick to it and remember why you are doing it. A significant number of gear-up accidents seem to happen because the pilot does his "reds, blues, greens" check, without actually looking to see whether there ARE three greens. It's not enough to simply say it.....

[ExSp33db1rd]

just so long as you stick to it and remember why you are doing it.

and if you get interrupted, start again. Surprising how many pick up the list one item plus one past where they stopped - and forget Fuel !!

For mnemonics on take-off I have ..... too many parachutes free falling in high cloud layers.

trim mixture pitch fuel flaps instruments harness controls lookout, and finally on the runway, the killers - fuel and flaps.

[Molesworth 1]

My personal philosophy is eyes outside the cockpit when joining and flying the circuit.

I think I like BackPacker's approach (sorry about the pun). FREDA check shortly before joining the circuit. Mind you the basic pre-landing doesn't take more than a few seconds. It's when it gets to checking Ts and Ps etc that I feel I'm being distracted from more important tasks like watching for other traffic.