Checklists

[Joshrk22]

I've been going through my ASA Oral Exam Guide to prep myself for my check ride. I was reading Gene Whitt's flying page and on there his students used checklists for the maneuvers.

Has anybody done this? For example, put checklists on note cards, along with V-Speeds, and anything else deemed important for flight.

I'm not talking about Normal Procedures or Emergency Procedures, but things that get covered during the check ride: PTS stuff.

 

[great cornholio]

Not exactly sure what you are asking, but when I was a CFI I taught in about 9 different a/c types so I had a note card that had the V-speeds for the diff a/c types on it.

For my students when I was teaching them maneuvers I would go over on the ground how to do them... IE power off stalls...do clearing turns then pull the carb heat then pull off some power then configure with flaps etc then idle then stall...something like that. Most students took notes on these things and wrote them down, but I'm not sure if any of them put them on note cards or turned them into checklists to take with them in the plane.

 

[jetracer5]

It would probably hurt you on your checkride to bring in a cheat sheet on how to fly the maneuvers!

Remember checklist's in airplanes are FAA approved. If your examiner see's you using your own checklist it could be used agained you and he can easily bust you for it!


edit: now that I think of it is a checklist in a 172,152 etc FAA approved?? I know our checklists at the part 121 airlines are signed off by the FAA for use. But I am not certain in part 91. Anybody know?

 

[Say Again Over]

The maneuvers are not a memory test, I teach part 61 type checks students on the Airbus and encourage some students to write down crib notes for things like the circling approach, NPA approach, LOC approach notes, the FAA has no problem with this.

 

[nosehair]

It would probably hurt you on your checkride to bring in a cheat sheet on how to fly the maneuvers!

Agreed. However, I think maneuver "notes", or "checklists" are great for student solo practice.

They should be practiced with a procedural checklist until they can be done fluidly without a "checklist", or "cheat sheet".

I found it very helpful to me as a solo student. In those early solo days, it seems like it is all we can do to keep the airplane upright and in constant contact with a known ground reference, much less "remember" what and how to practice maneuvers, so a "memory jogger" was very helpful.

 

[midlifeflyer]

The maneuvers are not a memory test,

You're right, but there are limits. The set-up for power on and power off stalls, for example are the same, and are similar to the set up for landing - down to carb heat and fuel pump when appropriate.

And I can definitely see an examiner being very concerned about the safety of a pilot who he felt needed to refer a checklist to remember to clear the area before a maneuver or to remember that a stall recovery involves the prompt reduction of AoA to prevent or break the stall and the application of power to minimize the loss of altitude.

Not saying that it should hurt on the checkride, but only that, overdone, it could lead to questions that you'd hopefully have an answer for.

(BTW, I have used cheat sheets myself on checkrides on the general theory that, in real flight, there are things you need to memorize and things you have time to look up.)

 

[Amish RakeFight]

The only checklist you should be taking out on a checkride are for the various phases of flight.

Things like this for a typical 61 ride.

Preflight
Before start
After start
Pre-taxi
Run-up
Before Takeoff
After Takeoff
Cruise
Emergency
Descent
Approach
After landing
Shutdown

By the way, you should already be using such a checklist anyway.

It's good to have V speeds handy but to pull out a checklist for each manuever isn't gonna win points from an examiner and he may actually tell you to put it away. The whole point of the ride is to see you perform these thigns without the aid of a checklist.

Even the items I listed above should be commited to memory. The checklist should be refered to afterwards to ensure you haven't missed anything.

This is all what being a competent pilot is all about.

 

[woutlaw]

For my commercial ride I made up a checklist/cheat sheet of the different power settings, configurations, notes and critical items for each of the maneuvers.

I knew everything by heart and by flow, but figured during the stress of the checkride it was easy to overlook something.

Stuck 'em to the yoke on a clip and they stayed for the entire ride.

I figured if the examiner wanted me to get set up by memory that was fine, but since checklist usage seems to be an emphasis item (especially on the commercial) I didn't see any harm in having a checklist at hand for each maneuver.

You still need to know how to fly the maneuver, but if it helps to use a checklist or cheat sheet to get set up properly, I'd say go for it.

A maneuver is just a phase of flight, no different from preflight, taxi, takeoff, descent, landing, post-landing and shutdown. You use checklists for all those phases, why not for a maneuver?

If the examiner has a problem with it, they'll let you know, at which point do 'em from memory.

 

[five-alive]

It would probably hurt you on your checkride to bring in a cheat sheet on how to fly the maneuvers!

Remember checklist's in airplanes are FAA approved. If your examiner see's you using your own checklist it could be used agained you and he can easily bust you for it!


edit: now that I think of it is a checklist in a 172,152 etc FAA approved?? I know our checklists at the part 121 airlines are signed off by the FAA for use. But I am not certain in part 91. Anybody know?

Small 91 airplanes are not required to even have checklists. You can use whatever you want.

 

[nosehair]

Small 91 airplanes are not required to even have checklists. You can use whatever you want.

They are required to have a POH on board, in which is an approved checklist. It is true that a part 91 operator is not required specifically by a regulation to use that checklist while in the act of flying, he would be responsible for having the knowledge of the checklist, and on any FAA checkride, the PTS lists "use of checklist" as an item to check for the safety and competence of the pilot. It is neccessary to demonstrate the use of a checklist while flying in order to get certificated. What you do after you are "out of school" is, of course, up to you.