Originally Posted by
Centaurus
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In a similar vein I recall taking over a new Cessna 152 student at a Victorian country flying school. The student had already flown ten hours of dual. His normal instructor was away on holiday.
We arrived at our Cessna 152 and got seated. He then apologised and said he had left his checklist in his car. I said no problem just do a left to right checks . He had never heard of that as he had been taught to read and do everyhing from a written checklist.
After starting the engine he did not know what to do next without his written checklist. We finally got airborne for circuits and he rattled off the BUMPF mnemonics during the downwind leg including confirming the wheels were down and locked and the magnetos were on BOTH. . I said the C152 had fixed landing gear and the gear check did not apply. Similarly if the magnetos were not ON there would be no engine power. His landing were safe but I was reluctant to send him solo because of his total reliance on a written checklist.
We finished the session and taxied to the parking area but he was embarrassed when I asked him to shut down the engine. He said he had never shut down ithe engine without reading from his checklist in all his previous flights with his grade 3 instructor. I had to talk him through the shut down checks. It seemed to me that the instructor's CFI clearly was unaware of the deficiences in the grade 3 instructor's teaching technique.
It's funny how different instructors perceive the implications of, and therefore teach different approaches to, the same set of circumstances. And CASA either knows and approves of the different approaches, or ... I can't be bothered typing out the numerous permutations of the safety/competence/safety variables.
I was taught to run through the checklist items including undercarriage position selection and indication, even if flying a fixed gear aircraft, and propellor pitch setting, even if flying a fixed pitch propellor aircraft. Not ab initio, but shortly after getting a UPPL (google it) numerous decades ago.
Still do it, today. My understanding is that following this kind of 'standard' checklist will deal with 'most' situations that could arise when flying different aircraft. Doesn't remove the need for aircraft-specific knowledge, but should help prevent a lot of common mistakes.
Maybe my instructors and I were off with the fairies, but CASA should have done something about that a long time ago.