"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...


This is interesting as I watch a lot of airline pilots do their preflight
and I've NEVER seen one carry a checklist. A flashlight, but never a
checklist. Personally, I like the Navy approach to checklists. Execute
the list from memory and then "check" it with the checklist.

This ought to be its own thread, esp in r.a.s. The previous DE was a
checklist fanatic so I was told that when I leveled off I better have
flipped the checklist to CRUISE and on the way back to the field, I better
have gone through the DESCENT checklist and be ready for LANDING.

I guess for pre-flight, I use the Navy approach, largely because I look for
stuff beyond what's on the checklist itself but I also glance at the list at
each position around the plane. Then, before the walkaround, I stand at the
nose, look at the airplane, check the preflight checklist one last time.

I realize the FAA doesn't agree with this, but it makes a lot more sense
to me than fumbling for a checklist when the prop is windmilling and you
are descending at 800 fpm towards hostile terrain.

Yep. I try to be proficient at both but solely reliant on neither. I'm
already working on memorizing it so if he says to do something I can flip to
the page, recite it from memory and double-check. That ought to be
reasonable; otherwise, you'd have to look at the list every time you did a
GUMPS check.

-c