Page 52 - EAA78.Newsletter.Archives.(February.2017-July.2021)
P. 52
CHAPTER CHATTER, EAA Chapter 78 9
FAA’s Checklist Warning Makes Sense, From a practical standpoint, however, Allen’s advice
Except That It Doesn’t offered about as much help as the FAA’s letter did,
The question is, should you modify your OEM checklist in any which is not a lot.
way? Here’s why it’s not an easy call.
We pilots face a common set of problems when it
In safety bulletin published earlier this week, the FAA is comes to using checklists.
warning pilots about using an aftermarket checklist
instead of the one published in the airplane’s POH. In
its letter, the agency discussed a non-injury landing Without doubt, the biggest problem isn’t in how we
accident in which the pilot in command was using an prepare or use checklists; it’s that so few pilots use
aftermarket checklist to troubleshoot a problem with a them at all. Research has shown that checklists
gear extension failure—the FAA did not detail the type prevent errors and important errors, too. But using
of plane involved. The pertinent point is that the them takes time, and when you’re flying an airplane
troubleshooting failed and the plane landed with the with which you’re intimately familiar, many of us just go
gear partially extended, resulting in “substantial through the steps by memory. There are two problems
damage” to the aircraft. with this. First, there are two kinds of pilots: those who
know they have faulty memories and those who don’t
know (or admit) that they do. So checklists help keep
In its bulletin, the FAA urges that pilots who use an us factually in step with what our memories suggest we
aftermarket checklist or one of their own design “should should be doing versus what we actually should be
meticulously compare them to the manufacturer’s doing. I know that I’ve made mistakes for failure to use
checklist and placards contained in the POH/AFM to a checklist. These include failing to enter the
confirm they are consistent. This action,” the FAA transponder code before takeoff, failing to ensure the
continued, “will ensure the pilot has all pertinent flaps were up for initial climb, and failure to get cowl
manufacturer’s information during aircraft flight flaps open or closed at the appropriate time. Checklists
operations.” help avoid these kinds of errors.
When it comes to using checklists for our specific
airplanes, many of us with older planes run into the
problem that the OEM checklists aren’t very good. For
my plane, a 1964 Cessna Skylane, the checklist in the
POH is almost comically short. The current checklist for
the Cessna 182 is several times the length of the one
for my elder statesman plane, and not because Cessna
added to it to cover its liabilities but because the
original was insufficient. My choosing to use the OEM
checklist might make me less liable to run afoul of the
FAA, but it would make me less safe. That one’s an
easy call. There are aftermarket paper checklists we
can download, buy online or create ourselves.
The other issue is that it’s hard to use paper checklists.
Many manufacturers recognize this and include
checklists as part of the startup sequence on their
On Tuesday, AOPA’s AOPA Legal Services Senior planes. For those of us who fly older planes, we have a
Attorney Jared Allen wrote a follow up to the FAA letter number of good options we can take to digitize the
endorsing the FAA’s stance and urging AOPA experience. We can use our favorite aviation app—
members to heed the advice lest they run afoul of both ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot have excellent
required operating procedures and find themselves checklist utilities—to develop an airplane specific
facing an FAA enforcement action. checklist for our plane. Or we could use similar
features on dedicated portable units to do the same.
In all fairness, Allen’s reply was understandable. From
a legal perspective, it makes sense to follow the letter
of the law.
