How Ironic

On my last blog entry I talked about my checklist issue and not using it. I had a bad habit of skimming it but not checking item after item.

This morning I get the Pilot's Tip of the Week - #11, which discussed preflight and the importance of using your checklist.

A sign from above? hmmmmmmm??

This is a checklist, stupid!

My birthday flight was not one of my better flights. The weather was nice, light turbulence, the sky was about 4500 broken, but I just did not have it this day.

One problem that I have found that I am doing is that I am ignoring my checklist, or just skimming it and not following it accurately. I have to remind myself that a checklist is there for a reason. The checklist is exactly that... a checklist. The checklist is not reading material to entertain you before starting the engine or before taking off. Every item is important to some extent or another. Ignoring an individual item may not result in disaster, but ignoring several items could quite easily resulted in more than just ruining your flight.

To diminish or eliminate this problem, I have been using my checklist and practicing on my computer with my Microsoft flight simulator. I have a flight schedule today, and since I have practiced several times I should have no problem at all.

Today's weather ... KAKR 141254Z AUTO 00000KT 8SM CLR 22/19 A3021 RMK AO2 SLP223 T02220189 TSNO=