Ian wrote:


The pros are flying vastly more complicated aircraft...

True, though the pilot/aircraft interface gets simpler all the
time--until you get to the programming part.



...and have vastly more time available to read checklists.

False. Though we may have a crew to share the load, it takes more time
to work with a crew. The time available to provide a solution is often
inversely related to the size of the problem.

In single-seat aircraft you are generally going very fast, have even
more complexity, and often feel that you don't have enough hands to do
all the things that need to be done in the time available, which can be
so short as to seem virtually non-existent. That's why there are
ejection seats--wonderful "zero/zero" rocket-powered seats.

If the above sounds to some like an argument against reliance on
checklists, in fact my position is that checklists must be first and
foremost practical--short, sufficient, and sometimes memorized--but they
should always be used.

Checklists work, and AOA works. Though the use of each must be adapted
to the ship, the mission, and the circumstances, I suspect those who
avoid or deride either one do so for their own emotional reasons and not
out of a real understanding of their value.


Jack