Landing Check Lists

[Nyal Williams]

I wonder how many different landing checklists are in use. If the list
you use is not USTALL, (Undercarriage, Speed, Trim, Airbrakes, Look out
for Traffic, Land), please post here and label the items.

[Barney]

On 26 Dec 2005 19:01:13 GMT, Nyal Williams
> wrote:

>I wonder how many different landing checklists are in use. If the list
>you use is not USTALL, (Undercarriage, Speed, Trim, Airbrakes, Look out
>for Traffic, Land), please post here and label the items.
>
>
FUSTALL
Flaps
Undercarriage
Speed
TRim
Airbrakes
Look
Land.

[Shawn]

Barney wrote:
> On 26 Dec 2005 19:01:13 GMT, Nyal Williams
> > wrote:
>
>
>>I wonder how many different landing checklists are in use. If the list
>>you use is not USTALL, (Undercarriage, Speed, Trim, Airbrakes, Look out
>>for Traffic, Land), please post here and label the items.
>>
>>
>
> FUSTALL
> Flaps
> Undercarriage
> Speed
> TRim
> Airbrakes
> Look
> Land.
>
WUFSTALL
Water
Undercarriage
Flaps
Speed
Trim
Airbrakes
Look (traffic obstructions wind)
Land

What I wonder is *when* people run through their checklist. I do mine
before the IP so I have at least the time in the pattern to sort out any
problems (e.g. airbrake malfunction, wind direction different on ground
vs pattern altitude).
I've heard of some folks doing their list on downwind. Too late for my
comfort.

Shawn

[Mark Dickson]

WULF - Waterballast, U/C, loose articles, flaps.




At 19:06 26 December 2005, Nyal Williams wrote:
>I wonder how many different landing checklists are
>in use. If the list
>you use is not USTALL, (Undercarriage, Speed, Trim,
>Airbrakes, Look out
>for Traffic, Land), please post here and label the
>items.
>
>
>
>

[John Galloway]

WUF - shortened to 'WU' since I don't have flaps and
to 'U(gh)' without the water.


At 19:18 26 December 2005, Shawn wrote:
>Barney wrote:
>> On 26 Dec 2005 19:01:13 GMT, Nyal Williams
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I wonder how many different landing checklists are
>>>in use. If the list
>>>you use is not USTALL, (Undercarriage, Speed, Trim,
>>>Airbrakes, Look out
>>>for Traffic, Land), please post here and label the
>>>items.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> FUSTALL
>> Flaps
>> Undercarriage
>> Speed
>> TRim
>> Airbrakes
>> Look
>> Land.
>>
>WUFSTALL
>Water
>Undercarriage
>Flaps
>Speed
>Trim
>Airbrakes
>Look (traffic obstructions wind)
>Land
>
>What I wonder is *when* people run through their checklist.
> I do mine
>before the IP so I have at least the time in the pattern
>to sort out any
>problems (e.g. airbrake malfunction, wind direction
>different on ground
>vs pattern altitude).
>I've heard of some folks doing their list on downwind.
> Too late for my
>comfort.
>
>Shawn
>

[Charles Petersen]

SWAFTS
Straps
Wheel (down)
Water (dumped)
Wind (speed and direction)
Approach Speed
Flaps
Traffic
Spoilers (check)

In use in Canada...


"Nyal Williams" > wrote in message
...
>I wonder how many different landing checklists are in use. If the list
> you use is not USTALL, (Undercarriage, Speed, Trim, Airbrakes, Look out
> for Traffic, Land), please post here and label the items.
>
>
>

[Don Johnstone]

I don't use a checklist, I configure the glider appropriate
for the stage of the flight.
Using a checklist which is not appropriate for the
glider being flown can mean that the automatic checklist
becomes an automatic response

At 19:36 26 December 2005, John Galloway wrote:
>WUF - shortened to 'WU' since I don't have flaps and
>to 'U(gh)' without the water.
>
>
>At 19:18 26 December 2005, Shawn wrote:
>>Barney wrote:
>>> On 26 Dec 2005 19:01:13 GMT, Nyal Williams
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>I wonder how many different landing checklists are
>>>>in use. If the list
>>>>you use is not USTALL, (Undercarriage, Speed, Trim,
>>>>Airbrakes, Look out
>>>>for Traffic, Land), please post here and label the
>>>>items.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> FUSTALL
>>> Flaps
>>> Undercarriage
>>> Speed
>>> TRim
>>> Airbrakes
>>> Look
>>> Land.
>>>
>>WUFSTALL
>>Water
>>Undercarriage
>>Flaps
>>Speed
>>Trim
>>Airbrakes
>>Look (traffic obstructions wind)
>>Land
>>
>>What I wonder is *when* people run through their checklist.
>> I do mine
>>before the IP so I have at least the time in the pattern
>>to sort out any
>>problems (e.g. airbrake malfunction, wind direction
>>different on ground
>>vs pattern altitude).
>>I've heard of some folks doing their list on downwind.
>> Too late for my
>>comfort.
>>
>>Shawn
>>
>
>
>

[[email protected]]

WUFSTALL

W - Water out

U - UNDERCARRIAGE DOWN AND LOCKED

F - FLAPS SET FOR LANDING

S - STRAPS ( BELTS ) TIGHT

T - TRIM FOR LANDING SPEED

A - AIRBRAKES / AIRSPEED / ANGLE TO RUNWAY

L - LOOSE OBJECTS ( NONE ) LANDING AREA CLEAR

L - LOOKOUT

[BB]

This is a good question, since many standard checklists leave out
important things and add silly ones ("Land?" What, I'm going to forget
to land?!!).

Mine:

Wind (direction, strength, how strong will gradient/wind shadow be)
Ground (pick place to land, look for obstructions, wires, fences, pick
approach path to landing spot)
Gear (down and locked, and check)
Trim (pick speed appropriate to conditions, trim to it, configure
glider for landing including flaps and spoiler check)
Traffic (announce, look!)

[Derek Copeland]

For all landings, my pre-landing check is:

W- Water jettisoned.
U - Undercarriage down and locked.
L - Loose objects stowed away and, considering myself
as a potential loose object, straps tight.
F - Flaps set as appropriate.

For field landings I also do:

W - Wind speed and direction (estimate as best as possible)
W - Wires - power, telephone and electric fences
S - Size
S - Slope
S - Surface
S - Stock
T - Tramlines

Derek Copeland
-----------------------
On 26 December 2005, Bb wrote:
>This is a good question, since many standard checklists
>leave out
>important things and add silly ones ('Land?' What,
>I'm going to forget
>to land?!!).
>
>Mine:
>
>Wind (direction, strength, how strong will gradient/wind
>shadow be)
>Ground (pick place to land, look for obstructions,
>wires, fences, pick
>approach path to landing spot)
>Gear (down and locked, and check)
>Trim (pick speed appropriate to conditions, trim to
>it, configure
>glider for landing including flaps and spoiler check)
>Traffic (announce, look!)
>
>

[Shawn]

Derek Copeland wrote:
> For all landings, my pre-landing check is:
>
> W- Water jettisoned.
> U - Undercarriage down and locked.
> L - Loose objects stowed away and, considering myself
> as a potential loose object, straps tight.
> F - Flaps set as appropriate.

I don't include "Straps" or "Loose Objects" in my check list because
loose anything in the cockpit can become problematic at any point in a
flight. Is this a regional item?

Shawn

[Derek Copeland]

At 22:36 26 December 2005, Shawn wrote:
>Derek Copeland wrote:
>> For all landings, my pre-landing check is:
>>
>> W- Water jettisoned.
>> U - Undercarriage down and locked.
>> L - Loose objects stowed away and, considering myself
>> as a potential loose object, straps tight.
>> F - Flaps set as appropriate.
>
>I don't include 'Straps' or 'Loose Objects' in my check
>list because
>loose anything in the cockpit can become problematic
>at any point in a
>flight. Is this a regional item?
>

The basic pre-landing checklist I use is the one recommended
by the BGA in the UK. Loose items and loose straps
are more likely to become an issue when flying in the
turbulent air close to the ground, and during the ground
run in a bumpy field.

Derek Copeland

[[email protected]]

For an out landing I use: Wild Woman Seek Sex, WWSS Wind,
Wires,Slope,Speed. Tom Hubbard

[[email protected]]

Nyal Williams wrote:
> I wonder how many different landing checklists are in use. If the list
> you use is not USTALL, (Undercarriage, Speed, Trim, Airbrakes, Look out
> for Traffic, Land), please post here and label the items.

BFUBBS WATT

Ballast - dumped

Flaps - Landing configuration

Undercarriage - down and locked

Brakes - Deploy spoilers and check operation

Brakes - Verify brake control either on spoiler or stick (esp. if
flying various ships)

Straps - Tight

Wind - Direction, speed, gusts

Airspeed - Appropriate for Terrain and Wind

Traffic - Look and Listen

Transmit - Announce IP and other locations as appropriate

[[email protected]]

A checklist should only be used for actions that are not routinely done
during flight, and are essential to the procedure (landing, in this
case). So really, the only thing needed for most glider landings, is
making sure the gear is down (if it's retractable in the first place).
Everything else listed in the common Before Landing "checklists" are
just reminders.

Note that the same logic applies to before takoff checklists - they
should only cover items that are critical to the maneuver about to be
accomplished - takeoff and flight in this case.

Some of the actions listed are a joke. Airspeed? Especially in
gliders, we are always adjusting our airspeed to the phase of flight we
are in - cruising, thermalling, pattern, landing. No checklist needed.
Trim? Ditto - and pretty obvious if not done. Flaps? Sure, when
appropriate - but depends on winds, etc.. and you've been playing with
them since takeoff anyway, haven't you? Traffic? YGTBSM! When in
flight can you not be looking for traffic!

So - reminders are fine - but don't get hung up in the pattern trying
to remember what the second L in WUFSTALLLLSWAFTWTFO means. By all
means prepare yourself for landing by getting ready and analyzing the
environment; but fundamentally landing is no different from entering or
leaving a thermal! Do you have a pre-thermalling and a
post-thermalling checklist?

The classic old power plane/military GUMP (Gas Undercarriage Mixture
Propeller) check was created to ensure that the critical, life-or-death
(or at least -damage) items were checked in the pattern prior to
landing. Since we glider pilots don't usually have any G, or an M or P
to worry about, only the U would seem to be useful for that small
percentage of the gliding community fortunate enough to be able to land
gear up.

And when we are blessed to be tooling around the pattern in a 2-33 or a
K-13 or whatever - tell the front seat stick actuator to quit yakking
about "wufstall" or "swafts" (whatever they are) and just land the darn
thing! As slow as possible! Preferably on the runway!

Kirk
66

Oh, and a nice loud "Shut up and look out the window!" is almost always
called for...especially when there are nice shiny gadgets on the panel
to look at...

[M B]

I despise long checklists. The chance of landing with
the gear UP is directly proportional to the length
of the checklist followed. The more checklist items
you follow, the less time spent doing something important.

Oh, unless putting the gear down is just repeated throughout
the checklist umpteen times :)

A very real exception, however, is the airspeed. Might
be a useful item for those who fly a lot of different
aircraft, or at different weights. But even then it
***might*** be ignored if the runway is long enough
;)

Takeoff checklist seems to be another matter entirely.
I look carefully through the fatal accident reports
and prioritize my checklist by what killed the most
pilots in type. Do THAT stuff at the beginnning AND
the end of the checklist...

At 05:12 27 December 2005, wrote:
>A checklist should only be used for actions that are
>not routinely done
>during flight, and are essential to the procedure (landing,
>in this
>case). So really, the only thing needed for most glider
>landings, is
>making sure the gear is down (if it's retractable in
>the first place).
>Everything else listed in the common Before Landing
>'checklists' are
>just reminders.
>
>Note that the same logic applies to before takoff checklists
>- they
>should only cover items that are critical to the maneuver
>about to be
>accomplished - takeoff and flight in this case.
>
>Some of the actions listed are a joke. Airspeed?
>Especially in
>gliders, we are always adjusting our airspeed to the
>phase of flight we
>are in - cruising, thermalling, pattern, landing.
>No checklist needed.
> Trim? Ditto - and pretty obvious if not done. Flaps?
> Sure, when
>appropriate - but depends on winds, etc.. and you've
>been playing with
>them since takeoff anyway, haven't you? Traffic?
>YGTBSM! When in
>flight can you not be looking for traffic!
>
>So - reminders are fine - but don't get hung up in
>the pattern trying
>to remember what the second L in WUFSTALLLLSWAFTWTFO
>means. By all
>means prepare yourself for landing by getting ready
>and analyzing the
>environment; but fundamentally landing is no different
>from entering or
>leaving a thermal! Do you have a pre-thermalling and
>a
>post-thermalling checklist?
>
>The classic old power plane/military GUMP (Gas Undercarriage
>Mixture
>Propeller) check was created to ensure that the critical,
>life-or-death
>(or at least -damage) items were checked in the pattern
>prior to
>landing. Since we glider pilots don't usually have
>any G, or an M or P
>to worry about, only the U would seem to be useful
>for that small
>percentage of the gliding community fortunate enough
>to be able to land
>gear up.
>
>And when we are blessed to be tooling around the pattern
>in a 2-33 or a
>K-13 or whatever - tell the front seat stick actuator
>to quit yakking
>about 'wufstall' or 'swafts' (whatever they are) and
>just land the darn
>thing! As slow as possible! Preferably on the runway!
>
>Kirk
>66
>
>Oh, and a nice loud 'Shut up and look out the window!'
>is almost always
>called for...especially when there are nice shiny gadgets
>on the panel
>to look at...
>
>

[Keith Morgan]

I'm told George Lee used

W-ind
W-ater
W-heels

[Keith Morgan]

I'm told George Lee used

W-ind
W-ater
W-heels

[Bruce Hoult]

In article >,
M B > wrote:

> I despise long checklists. The chance of landing with
> the gear UP is directly proportional to the length
> of the checklist followed. The more checklist items
> you follow, the less time spent doing something important.

Here in New Zealand the standard pre-landing checklist is Straps,
Undercarriage, Flaps, Brakes, which is pretty short.

You could argue that Straps is unnecessary, but I think it proabbly is a
good reminder that in some of the conditions we fly in it can get a lot
bumpier as you drop below 1000 ft or so. But the big reason to tighten
straps is in case of a sudden stop, right?

I've never quite known what to do for flaps at that point. No problem
if you don't have them of course, but in the one flapped ship I fly,
landing flap is about half as effective as the airbrakes (i.e. about 1/3
of the total drag available) and I do not generally want to have that
deployed all the way along downwind unless I'm worried about possible
1000+ fpm sink in the circuit and starting high and doing a Stuka
circuit. So I just make a plan (and announce if it there's someone in
the back seat) which is generally along the lines of "I'll fly clean (or
in +6) until on base (or turning final), when I'll put in landing flap.

Brakes: just open and close them to make sure they deploy and are
symmetrical. If they're not going to deploy (whether for mechanical
fault or due to icing) then best to find out before you're on finals.
Conversely, if they're not going to close properly after you test them
then best to be somewhere where you can get to the airfield with full
brake. Which argues for this being a downwind check rather than
something you might do too much earlier.


> A very real exception, however, is the airspeed. Might
> be a useful item for those who fly a lot of different
> aircraft, or at different weights. But even then it
> ***might*** be ignored if the runway is long enough
> ;)

I can understand how pilots of powered aircraft might have trouble with
speed, since they generally have to slow down to speeds they'd never
otherwise use. But it seems to me that most gliders should be
approached at a little bit over min sink in calm conditions, to a little
bit over best L/D when it's blowing and those are speeds and attitudes
and stick positions that you're going to know very well.


> Takeoff checklist seems to be another matter entirely.
> I look carefully through the fatal accident reports
> and prioritize my checklist by what killed the most
> pilots in type. Do THAT stuff at the beginnning AND
> the end of the checklist...

Right. There can be a lot of thngs that might prevent a sucessful
transition from not-flying to flying. Switching from flying to
not-flying is pretty fail-safe as long as you don't do it by hitting
something or stopping flying while too high off the ground.

--
Bruce | 41.1670S | \ spoken | -+-
Hoult | 174.8263E | /\ here. | ----------O----------

[Chuck Griswold]

At 10:06 27 December 2005, Keith Morgan wrote:
>I'm told George Lee used
>
>W-ind
>W-ater
>W-heels
>
I kind of like the WWW. Leave off the first two Ws
and add F. (flare)
at the end. Ofcourse I'm the guy that landed with his
spoilers taped shut.
Chuck
>
>
>
>

[[email protected]]

I was taught TOWARD

T - Traffic
O - Obstacles
W - Wind
A - Airspeed
R - Retracts
D - Dive Brakes

I still use it but I've added "gear down and locked" to my radio call.
If I start flying with ballast, I'll most likely need to change it
though.

Ray Warshaw

[Andy]

You have received quite a few replies but so far I don't think anyone
has has distinguished between written check lists as recommended by FAA
and mnemonics usually favored by glider pilots.

I use a written checklist to ensure that I have done everything
required to prepare myself and the glider for flight. That is
completed before grid time and rechecked before the contest launch
starts. After that I use no written checklists. I shudder to think
how those that can't extent the gear on short final would cope with the
task of finding, reading, executing, and stowing a checklist. I'd
rather have my eyes outside.

Mnemonic CBIFTCB covers everything I need for takeoff. I use WUFST
(water, undercarriage, flaps, speed, trim) for landing.

Andy

[Nyal Williams]

Thanks to all who have replied. My interest comes
from instructing students and giving them a consistent
procedure. Several answers were from pilots with lots
of experience and with very short checklists, which
is fine, of course. I wanted to see how many different
lists were in use. My own procedure is
W water dump
U undercarriage down
F flap setting
S pattern speed
T trim
A air brakes test
R radio
E enter pattern

I seldom fly with water, and rarely fly a flapped glider,
but by running this list through my head every time
I fly, I will have a ready reminder to save me from
embarrassment. I fly fixed gear, mostly, with students.
Without doing this it is likely that I might not lower
the gear in my own glider.

I insist on doing it all before entering the pattern
so as to have eyes outside only at that point. I'm
also in close enough, and with enough altitude, that
if the airbrakes jammed open I could still get to
the runway.

Critique, if you like. I intend to take down all these
lists and offer them up for discussion at one of our
club meetings.



At 15:18 28 December 2005, Andy wrote:
>You have received quite a few replies but so far I
>don't think anyone
>has has distinguished between written check lists as
>recommended by FAA
>and mnemonics usually favored by glider pilots.
>
>I use a written checklist to ensure that I have done
>everything
>required to prepare myself and the glider for flight.
> That is
>completed before grid time and rechecked before the
>contest launch
>starts. After that I use no written checklists. I
>shudder to think
>how those that can't extent the gear on short final
>would cope with the
>task of finding, reading, executing, and stowing a
>checklist. I'd
>rather have my eyes outside.
>
>Mnemonic CBIFTCB covers everything I need for takeoff.
>I use WUFST
>(water, undercarriage, flaps, speed, trim) for landing.
>
>
>Andy
>
>

[[email protected]]

Nyal,

No critique, this is a good discussion, and buried in it seems to be
the concensus by experienced pilots that the checks, in whatever form,
should be done before pattern entry and not while in the pattern
actively in the process of landing.

Cheers!

Kirk

[[email protected]]

Nyal,
I use TOWARD . Traffic, Obstacles, Wind(direction and speed),
Airspeed, Retractable gear(down), Dive brakes(check). Not as good as
GUMP for power flying, but easy to remember.

Dean Chantiles "GO"