cjpilot710(at)aol.com
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 Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:09 pm Post subject: check list |
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I have a somewhat jaundice eye about check lists. There have been some very good experience pilots killed by them. One crew at PAA died because the Boeing/FAA/PAA approve 'cockpit smoke removal' check list was back-ass-wards. They followed it to the T. The cockpit voice recorder and switch positions proved it. Witness saw smoke coming from the cockpit sliding windows (part of the check list) just at 200' off the runway when she pitched down, rolled and went in. This BOS accident was the start of the whole Hasmat control system in the airline industry.
There was period when flight crews were very knowledgeable about their systems. Even as a copilot I was expected to draw simple schematics with major components of every system on the 707. We were required to memorize the numbers not just making sure the needles were "in the green arch". But we learned a few "tricks" that were not in the books. My personal favorite, was the early radars. All these babies gave you a green blob where the nasty rain was. There was a gain knob on it that you could fiddle with to maybe pick out the really nasty stuff from the return. But one trick we used it for had nothing to do with weather. By using the tilt feature and the gain knob, you could actually get the Doppler shift on the return (You needed a fine eye to pick it out on the CRT) and find the aircraft's drift. This perfect "drift meter" however was only good over land.
But I digress. You can take 5 pilots that fly the same airplane - put them in 5 separate rooms and ask them to make up a check list for that airplane. When they are done, you will have 5 different check list. Yes a lot of the same items will be on them but no 2 of them will be the same nor in the same order. When I went from PAA to UAL in 1986 PAA was operating 45+ 747-100s. UAL had 13. Having to get "Unitedzised", I had to get my Flight Engineers ticket. I became VERY familiar with UAL check list for the 747-100. They were terrible! Flat out dangerous! If you had 2 of the 4 hydraulic systems in op, you were likely trying to cross reference NINE (9) pages of checklists on your table. At PAA there was one page and it incorporated the normal checklist items also. I ended up (after my flight check) "stealing" a set of abnormal lists from PAA to carry in my flight bag. Was just too easy to screw up using UAL's checklist.
A system I use is a flow pattern. Some call it "cockpit wipe out". You start at one point in the cockpit and used a flow pattern to check each and every knob, gage and switch. We used this technics at UAL on every airplane and would read a checklist to make sure the items were done and each of us were on the "same page". For me, on the CJ, I start at the rear left cockpit at the main air valve and start forward. I end on the right rear side at the primer. I do this before start, after mag check before takeoff. I do it in cruise and TOD. After I've put the gear down and finally after shutting down the engine. The emergency check list is mostly in my head BUT I have a miniaturized copy in the cockpit.
A lot of emergency checklist are "to do" lists. You must do things in a certain order at a given time. The more complicated the airplane the more need of a list. However - when I checked out on the 777, I found that for takeoff you only needed to check the overhead panel.
No lights, you're good to go.
See a light?
Press the light.
Light went out? Yes. Your good to go.
If it didn't, you pressed it again.
If it still stays on - that's not good.
Go back to the gate.
God, I loved the 777. I loved the 747-400 more. It paid more. 
Your best bet in an emergency is your through knowledge of your airplane's systems. Knowing the emergency procedures by heart becomes easier if you know the systems. The check list can be a guide IF you have time to use it. But don't take anyone's word that your only salvation is a check list. The UAL Sioux City DC-10 crash is a perfect example. There was no checklist to cover their problem. They made do with what they knew. The out come wasn't perfect but considering what could have happened, - - twerp not bad. Remember fly the airplane - fly the airplane - fly the airplane.
Jim "Pappy" Goolsby
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