criss;
Exactly.
A while back on another thread, the notion of "Killer Items" came up - it was after the Spanair MD82 accident at Madrid where a complex series of mis-steps and minor failures led to the deaths of over 150 passengers and crew.
There aren't many events/items that will kill right away but they exist on every flight. Some of them are,
- slats-flaps set,
- stab trim correctly set,
- speeds correctly calculated/set,
- correct/clear runway,
- spoilers retracted
- controls free, (should be obvious but I have seen data to the contrary),
The way we ran it was: pressurization - checked and announced every 10k in the climb and descent; a Cruise Check covers speeds, altimeters, pressurization, fuel and then a geographical check of all controls/indicators is done.
and there may be other type-specific killer items to check).
Those are checklist items to be emphasized for sure, but in truth the killer items should be automatic - should be habit, and also emphasized during training as an airmanship thing as well as adherence to SOPs. By the time one is flying airliners one shouldn't need "training" to check such items, but if we take a look at the industry's history over the past, say, three years, one or two of the basics were clearly missing in the six or seven stall/loss-of-control fatal accidents which have occurred. Why?