What is an Aviation Checklist?
An aviation checklist is a tool used to identify any potential risks to aircraft before take-off, flight, landing, and taxiing. It guides pilots and aircraft safety officers in ensuring airworthiness. It helps determine irregularities that need to be addressed immediately to prevent any flight incidents or fatalities.
Importance of Aviation Checklist
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) practical test standards require pilots to use the appropriate checklists, not just going through flow patterns or mental notes. This applies to different stages of flying, such as pre-flight. An aviation checklist is a simple list of commands every pilot should be able to understand. It helps in verifying the safety of the aircraft and ensuring it was configured correctly for the next phase of flight. It is crucial to comply with aviation checklists to:
- reduce the risk of life-threatening emergencies,
- prevent human error, and
- mitigate aircraft operational malfunction.
3 Vital Tips for Creating a Good Aviation Checklist
An aviation checklist supports flight crew airmanship and helps ensure there are no oversight prerequisite actions in the operation. The following tips will help in creating an efficient aviation checklist:
- Identify your checklist (Do-confirm or Read-do)
A Do-confirm checklist allows users to go through necessary steps within the checklist and run through it to ensure completeness. For example, in performing aviation safety checks the pilot monitoring reads the items to be checked and the pilot flying confirms the configuration or status of the item.
While a Read-do checklist allows users to perform the aircraft inspections as they’re reading through the checklist. For example in an aviation audit, an aircraft safety officer assesses the condition of an aircraft while running through the checklist. - Keep it simple and precise
An aviation checklist should be easy to understand, simple, and precise. It is recommended to limit the items between 5 and 9 to focus on crucial points and avoid overlooked items. - Test your checklist
It is important to test the efficiency of aviation checklists. It should help ensure a safe and secure aircraft operation to reduce the risk of human error.