Back in my student days I wrote down every check I was taught by my Instructors.
Pre-start in a PA28:
Brakes on
Fuel fullest tank
Mixture rich
Throttle set
Carb heat cold
Primer locked
Master switch on
Fuel pump on (check pressure)
"Clear Prop"
crank
Simple and I had memorised some 112 checks from closing the door before start-up to shutting down after flight.
I was watching a Youtube video some months ago and was shocked, dismayed, astonished and a plethora of other superlatives to watch the "pilot" going through the pre-start checklist on a PA28 by referring to a written laminated sheet. The superlatives mentioned above were due to this said "pilot" having to reading each and every item, checking it before proceeding to the next item on the list.
My memorised list (that I used practice in an aircraft on the ground to develop muscle memory and familiarity) takes around 10 to 13 seconds. This Youtube clown took close to a minute. If they found it necessary to do that checklist read on the ground, what they hell were they like when airborne, in a high workload environment with some moderate turbulence thrown in to make the reading and place-keeping in the check list order. I also wondered how this person would be able to remember and read back a clearance that consisted of more than a couple of words if they found it necessary to rely on a written checklist.
Checklists are critical and I understand that there is a time and place for written ones but in the above Youtube instance........really?
WAC, I would be one of the guilty ones who used
BUMP when downwind.
Brakes - Off
Undercarriage -
Fixed (easily change to Down in a Retractable)
Mixture - Rich
Pitch -
Fixed (easily change to Fine in a CSU machine and there was always the Blue knob reminder when the mixture check was done)
Can't remember where I first read it but checklists were described as Drills of Vital Action. As mentioned above, they are not a "to do" list but more a "stay alive" list. As a single example, how many airliners have crashed because Flaps were not set before take-off.
Maybe I am too judgemental and my bucket of luck is bone dry and my bucket of experience has yet to cover the bottom of the bucket.
