National Checklist Day

There is always something new to learn. Even after a lifetime of immersing myself in All Things Aviation, I had no idea that National Checklist Day might be a thing. Though it hasn’t inspired an annual proclamation or a celebratory greeting card, apparently National Checklist Day is a thing, and it rolls around every October 30. Here’s why.

In the Beginning ….

On that day in 1935, Boeing was set to introduce what was then the most sophisticated airplane ever: The Model 299, later (and better) known as the B-17 Flying Fortress, at Dayton’s Wright Field. Boeing’s chief test pilot and a company mechanic accompanied the flight crew. On the ground, an eager audience watched as the magnificent machine raced down the runway. It lifted off, began to climb, and crashed seconds later. The cause? The flight crew had failed to disengage the gust locks. 

Recognizing that aircraft complexity had now outstripped the memory capacity of any human, the company created a checklist and made its use mandatory. The rest, as they say, is history. Use of checklists expanded from flight crews to other aviation functions, and its success as an aviation safety tool carried the concept into numerous other industries.

Same Concept, Shifting Forms

While the basic checklist concept has been with us for 85 years, the structure, style, and use of this critical tool has evolved and, at least in my view, greatly improved. When I look at the checklist for the elderly-but-much-loved Aztec I flew alongside the checklist for, say, one of today’s tricked out GA glass cockpit airplanes, there is a world of difference. 

One thing that hasn’t changed is the tendency aviators have to argue — often quite passionately — about “proper” or “correct” ways to do things. I have certainly observed plenty of arm-waving discussions about the “right” way to use a checklist. Here are the contenders:

Challenge-and-Response: Professional flight crews use challenge and response. In this model, the pilot monitoring (PM) reads an item on the checklist (the challenge). The pilot flying (PF) responds by taking the required action, and the PM verifies that the correct action was indeed taken. 

Review-and-Do: This method is the one I learned and, consistent with the law of primacy, it tends to be my go-to approach for activities like preflight inspection, engine start, and pre-taxi. 

Do-and-Review: Pilots who primarily use this method argue that it is most consistent with the meaning of the word “checklist:” you perform the action and use the checklist to verify that you completed all listed items.

Go-with-a-Flow: This one — possibly just another name for do-and-review — advocates using logical and consistent flow patterns to accomplish all necessary tasks, with the printed document as a backup. Using mnemonics (e.g., CIGARS for pre-takeoff checklist) is consistent with this method.

Which one is the best? My response to that particular challenge is “none of the above” (because each has limitations) and “all of the above” (because each has its strengths). It is quite possible to effectively use each of them at different phases of any given flight. The only wrong answer? Not using a checklist at all! (FAA Safety Briefing – JanFeb 2021)