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=
1 comment:
I had the same problem with checklists until my instructor explained that each checklist should be accomplished in 3 stages: 1) Is what you memorize or what common sense tells you to do. For example, it is embedded in my memory to set my power and automatically lean the engine once I reach cruise altitude. 2) the second stage is your flow. In the Cirrus I scan the fuel gauge, fuel selector, boost pump, throttle, mixture, etc. If I somehow forgot to set my power and lean, I would've picked it up in my scan. 3) Lastly, pull out your paper checklist to confirm that everything was done. And of course speak it than do it as practice. Studies were done to show that when an action is spoken instead of thought, it is subsequently more likely to be carried out. I spent hours on my MS Flight Simulator just practicing checklists, so that it becomes somewhat second nature. You're doing great, don't beat up on yourself.
Post a Comment