I tell all my trainees "not all malfunctions are in the emergency checklist". It is very important to have good systems knowledge to understand why the emergency checklist says what it says, because when following the checklist hasn't worked, or if the problem is not mentioned in the checklist, to have an idea what corrective action in response to a malfunction might be appropriate. So many times I see trainees following a checklist procedure that they have no idea what they are doing, or why, and that is a big problem because they might be on the wrong checklist procedure and not realize it, or they will have no idea whether what they are about to try is sensible in the circumstances, or what they should do if what they have tried doesn't work.
Sikorsky are not going to write in a checklist "if the helicopter goes wildly out of control immediately switch off a hydraulic system, and if that doesn't work, switch off the other one". This is what I would do if faced with this situation. I wouldn't even check if a servo light or master caution light or any other warning light is on, and I wouldn't even get out the checklist. Sometimes prioritization of common sense needs to over-ride strict compliance with procedure.
There have been times I see trainees become so confused when following a checklist procedure I end up taking it off them and say solve the problem without a checklist. The outcome is usually a better one compared with what they were doing before.
And as for my earlier comments about CVR/FDR, I have never seen anything in any regulator approved operator in-flight checklist about a pilot needing to do anything about these. Not in the S76, or any medium-twin Bell helicopter. I do know that passenger seats have been permanently removed from aircraft to bypass the CVR/FDR requirement, and I do know that HUMS has been removed from aircraft when it was not a contract requirement.
Reliance on automation in helicopter cockpits over the years seems to have reduced pilot capacity for doing the basic piloting stuff when something goes wrong.
Last edited by gulliBell; 26th Mar 2016 at 00:11.