Since Boeing revised the B737 checklist policy about one year ago (?) to reduce the number of items to be actioned while taxiing for take off to just one item - FLAPS - there have been reports filtering quietly through the system of crews forgetting to select flaps for take off. Fortunately this has been picked up by the take off warning configuration as the thrust levers are opened at the start of the take off run.
These are not rumours but facts in Australia. It is a good bet that there have been many more instances of this happening and I was wondering if any Pprune readers have run into the same problem and under what circumstances.
I wonder if this is a new problem (forgetting take off flap until config warnings says "Oops!") and if so, could it have something to do with the Boeing revised checklist policy?
Previously the Before Take Off Checklist included items such as flight controls...Free, stab trim...set, Recall...check, and so on. Crews got used to the flow of words and if one line was missed out by the checklist reader, an astute other pilot would immediately twig a line was missed.
But now with most items completed and checklists read before push-back or before taxiing, leaving the Before Take Off checklist to just - FLAPS - ...it is easy to miss that one drill especially while busy taxiing. How many readers are game enough to admit to forgetting to set the flaps and have been only caught by the sound of the configuration warning?
