Checklists -- a load of tosh
Lazy day. All the patients appear to have sodded off to the beach, so...
What do people think about checklists for the very simple aircaft we mostly fly in this forum? Personally, I think they're dangerous because they decrease your cockpit awareness. They make you go through actions in rote fashion without necessarily thinking about what you're doing.
In my latter years of flying previously, I gave up with checklists. Coming back to flying this year in a Super Cub my instructor, while acknowledging the absurdity, made me make up a checklist to use to satisfy the exam requirements. I found it distracting and anxiety-provoking because I could go through it without thinking. Since passing the test I've gone back to a left to right pre-flight check of the cockpit and am much happier.
In fact, said instructor -- 50 years in flying and still very much alive -- rarely uses a checklist himself, even up to some reasonably heavy stuff.
Throw off your checklists!
QDM