Kirk Stant wrote:

1) If they ain't locked for takeoff, a gnarly pio

1. Use a checklist. Oh, and why is the tow pilot fanning his rudder
at me?

LOL! "use a checklist."
Kind of covers everything, huh?

"Oh yeah? He had an accident? I bet he
didn't use the checklist!"

everyone nods solemnly in agreement, and the
speaker passes Leadership 101 for saying the most obvious,
non-controversial thing anyone can think of

ROFL! Man, I remember my MEI and his checklists.
We added so much stuff, I think there was
something about taking our pulse and blood pressure
in the runup to ensure we weren't overstressed
for the flight. Oh, and zipper check and
make sure we had chewing gum in case ATC gave us a
real fast descent. I think we had to taxi back for
fuel one time because we'd drained the tanks in
the runup area doing the checklist.

But hey, Kirk, I'm just teasin ya'. Just one of my
pet peeves, the checklist with the important
points buried.

How about just three critical safety items in the PW-5:

1. Airbrakes locked
2. Trim forward
3. Belts on tight

I'm a big fan of the prioritized checklist.
Do the three most important items first.
Do the nine most important items next.
Do the 27 most important items next.
Do the 81 most important items next.
And so on...

To figure out what the priority list should be, I
follow this advice:

You should learn from the mistakes of others, because you?ll
never have enough time to make all those mistakes yourself.
--- Ben Franklin

So I scour the accident reports, and see what killed
other pilots, and put that at the top three. Then I see
what caused non-fatal accidents, and put that in the
next 6-9. Then I add in the stuff from the
factory checklist. Then I add the piddly stuff that just
prevents a nuisance (vent closed to avoid dust, for example,
or towrope attached. It's hard for me to imagine why
an unattached towrope would be a safety hazard

Despite my best efforts, I've found myself getting sleepy
after the 45th item on the checklist. So this has worked
best for me.
--

------------+
Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA