And then we move seamlessly on to that other beloved, much exercised (here and elsewhere) topic - checklists.
We operate a PA28 for flight training and Club use. In common with other establishments, we bought checklists for the PA28 from commercial suppliers. None of them are a particularly good fit for our aircraft. so we thought we'd start from first principles and went to the Flight Manual (by a miracle, the original has survived quite a few owners and is the actual one for our serial number). There is an amazing lack of detail, something about being on the 'proper' tank and having the seatbacks upright for take-off. Perhaps Piper thought we'd all know all the rest of the stuff. So anyway, wanting to balance having a list to check that the needful items as we see them have been done and NOT wanting to turn it in to an instruction manual we have written our own. It's carefully constructed so as not to contradict the FM in any way, but to be an aide memoire especially for low-hours and student pilots. It's a single sheet of A5, big enough print to read easily. One place I worked had a large booklet as a checklist, with several lines giving instructions on how and why to do each item - barmy!
NB. The only items referred to from a written list are done whilst the aircraft is stationary. ALL items whilst it is in motion must be done from memory.
TOO