Originally Posted by
Wessex Boy
In the RAF we were shown the Walkaround on the Wessex, given the written checklist and told to learn it. We just then did the walkaround, looking at stuff as we came to it. There was a lot more climbing involved than the average spamcan and a lot more oily bits.....
I take the same approach with GA, most aircraft are the same, you just need to know the little extras a particular type has and what is 'normal' in terms of play on the wobbly bits.
I have re-worked the cockpit checks for my new groupoplane so that they flow from the floor in the centre out to the left-hand panel to make it easier for me to learn them and not to miss anything so that I can drop the physical checklist once I am used to flying it a bit more
I do the same with all the aircraft I teach in. I am a huge believer in cockpit flows and IMO all normal and emergency checks should follow the same pattern around the cockpit. That way the physical layout provides the map for the actions and missing an item will be much more obvious than checklist where the actions jump all around the cockpit. After the flow the actions are "checked" with the checklist. I also believe in a preflight cockpit "geographic" check. I teach that the walkaround begins in the cockpit and starts with the standard flow with the aim to ensure all controls/switches/instruments are in their correct postions. This is especialy usefull in rental aircraft where you frequently find switches left on, engine controls pushed in or even the Mags left on
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