Beyond the Checklist

[john smith]

This is a followup to the recent Checklist discussion.

What other pertinent information do you add to your personal checklists?

I like to have the attached V-speed reference chart.

 

[RotorAndWing]

This is a followup to the recent Checklist discussion.

What other pertinent information do you add to your personal checklists?

I like to have the attached V-speed reference chart.

Overkill for a small single engine plane. Example, between 2200 and 2600 pounds average speed difference is about 3 knots. I doubt most people can fly the airspeed that precise in a 182.

But, if it makes you feel good, go for it.

 

[tdager]

Overkill for a small single engine plane. Example, between 2200 and 2600 pounds average speed difference is about 3 knots. I doubt most people can fly the airspeed that precise in a 182.

But, if it makes you feel good, go for it.

LOL..than I had better not share my 20+ page "personal ops manual" with you for my "simple" C182!

 

[Joe B]

What other pertinent information do you add to your personal checklists?

IFR speeds & settings chart (configuration, attitude, MP, RPM, speed, VSI)
Performance curves
Engine power chart
Passenger briefing
Electronic gizmo abbreviations, error/warning messages, and meanings

 

[flyingcheesehead]

This is a followup to the recent Checklist discussion.

What other pertinent information do you add to your personal checklists?

I like to have the attached V-speed reference chart.

Hmmm... Very interesting - But I think you were a bit overzealous. Vne and Vfe do not change with weight.

Also, I'm assuming 1856 is your empty weight? You could save some extra room on the chart by only going down to empty weight + weight of minimum fuel + your weight. For example, I know that I won't be flying our 182 at anything less than 2125 pounds.

Of course, maybe you're not trying to save space - I have all of my emergency checklists on a single 8.5x11 sheet and all of my normal checklists, V-speeds, IFR configurations, etc. on a second 8.5x11 sheet, both in 4 columns in landscape orientation. So, I can print them out, fold them in half, and they get stuffed in my IFR Flight File.

My C182N checklist is attached.

 

[tapioca]

Keys.

When to the airport with my backup set after a trip this christmas. Below is more or less the results...and sorry if this counts as a thread hijack, it wasn't my intention.

First flight of the year didn’t really go quite as planned but I did get to fly. I had set up a flight with a friend this would be his first flight in a small plane and the weather while cold was still smooth below 3,000 feet I had originally planned to take him out to Centerville and over fly Lake Rathbun before heading back to Knoxville where I picked him up.

What actually happen was just a little different I had just gotten back from Arizona I took a commercial flight this time, with the weather being what it was and only having a week to get there and back, this was the best course of action. While it was a great trip, the cold air followed me down, temps were in the upper 30’s for most of the trip and were heading upward just in time for me the head back to Iowa, which of course was experiencing the warm temperatures that I had hoped to encounter by traveling south.

Since I had a bad habit of leaving my keys at my parents’ house (Another story for another time…) I had dropped them in the suitcase when I arrived and didn’t give them much thought until now, just before heading out to the airport. I was on schedule as I grabbed them from the suitcase and headed out the door, mostly thinking about the flight ahead and hoping that the plane would start rather than having to get a charge again.

Arriving at the airport I walked out my hanger and only then made the discovery that I had picked up my back up set when I set out for Arizona, no keys to the plane or hanger. Sent off a text message to my friend explaining that I had the wrong set of keys and had to go back to my house and retrieve the correct set.

Arriving home I made the discovery that the back up set no longer contained a house key as I had taken it off and given it to my girlfriend a couple months ago with the intention of replacing it with a different key later. Later this time came too late. Still not a problem as I kept the basement door unlocked as it is behind my garage door, which is controlled by an automatic opener in the truck.

Opened the garage door and discovered that my girl has decided that this door too should be locked. Now I have the choice of calling the whole thing off or confessing to my mechanic that I have, through as series of unfortunate events managed to lock myself out of my house and needed the copy of the keys he kept so that I could fly out to Ankeny and fetch my house key from my girlfriend while she is at work.

Back to the airport and made my confession and got the keys, then send a text message to my girl to have her meet me at the Ankeny airport in about 30 minutes, then sent a text message to my friend and let him know that I was finally on my way out to Knoxville.

Once I got to Knoxville I got some gas and did a quick check on Ankeny I have been there before and that was for my check ride so I already knew about the right/left pattern set up then told my friend that there was a change in planes and that we were heading out to Ankeny, no problem there he was just happy to get to fly.

We flew to Ankeny by the most direct route which meant that part of the flight would be under the outer ring of Des Moines class C. No a big deal, so long as I watched out for the radio towers as I was planning on staying around 1,800 or about 200 feet under the floor. I elected to do a straight in on 4 and held short on 18. I noticed on 18 that there was a plane holding short in the run up area, crossed over the runway and headed for the FBO.

We met my girlfriend and I got the house key, and before heading back we flew west to the Sailorville lake then North over it to the end before breaking east to get past the airport and finally south east towards Runnells and then Pleasentville to over fly his house. While we were circling his house he was talking with his wife on the phone and eventually convinced her to come outside and wave. I am pretty sure that he took at least one picture of his house while we were circling and finally I had to head back to Knoxville as I was starting to run low on fuel.

It really wasn’t until I got the plane put away that I really thought about it but realized that the only reason that I left the house was to fly the plane and yet the only real reason that I had to fly today was so that I could get back into the house.

 

[RotorAndWing]

My C182N checklist is attached.

Nice. :smile:

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Nice. :smile:

Thank you. I was wondering what you'd think!

I have checklists like this for maybe 10 types. I've found that I usually remove a bunch of stuff from the normal procedures and then add in some IFR-related stuff - And launching into OVC002 is when I'm most apt to actually use the written checklists! But on the flip side, I generally add things to the emergency procedures. The manufacturers' checklists tell you only what to do with the *airplane* and nothing else. Clearly written by lawyers!

I also don't have the "what to do" part written down. If I'm about to start my engine and the list says "Master," if I don't know to turn it "On" then I shouldn't be in the plane by myself! Clearly this isn't the sort of checklist a beginning student should use, but once certificated I think that every pilot should make their own checklist that works for their particular way of thinking.

 

[gprellwitz]

Thank you. I was wondering what you'd think!

I have checklists like this for maybe 10 types. I've found that I usually remove a bunch of stuff from the normal procedures and then add in some IFR-related stuff - And launching into OVC002 is when I'm most apt to actually use the written checklists! But on the flip side, I generally add things to the emergency procedures. The manufacturers' checklists tell you only what to do with the *airplane* and nothing else. Clearly written by lawyers!

I also don't have the "what to do" part written down. If I'm about to start my engine and the list says "Master," if I don't know to turn it "On" then I shouldn't be in the plane by myself! Clearly this isn't the sort of checklist a beginning student should use, but once certificated I think that every pilot should make their own checklist that works for their particular way of thinking.

I liked the checklist. I may adapt it for the 182's that I fly. The only nit I'd pick was the distance between "Engine Oil Level" and "Oil Filler Cap - Secure". Why aren't you doing those at the same time.

Edit: (Note that the 182's I fly are 1999 and 2002 models, which may explain this.)

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I liked the checklist. I may adapt it for the 182's that I fly. The only nit I'd pick was the distance between "Engine Oil Level" and "Oil Filler Cap - Secure". Why aren't you doing those at the same time.

Edit: (Note that the 182's I fly are 1999 and 2002 models, which may explain this.)

Yeah, you're on Lycoming engines with the post-shutdown 182's. We have a Continental O-470, and the oil dipstick and filler cap are in two different places under two different doors.

However, the real reason I moved checking the oil and fuel levels right at the beginning is that we keep our airplanes at the south ramp while the FBO is on the east ramp. So, if I need fuel or oil, I want to know about it BEFORE they go all the way back over to the east ramp. (They keep a fuel truck on the south ramp, but no people.)

 

[gprellwitz]

Yeah, you're on Lycoming engines with the post-shutdown 182's. We have a Continental O-470, and the oil dipstick and filler cap are in two different places under two different doors.

However, the real reason I moved checking the oil and fuel levels right at the beginning is that we keep our airplanes at the south ramp while the FBO is on the east ramp. So, if I need fuel or oil, I want to know about it BEFORE they go all the way back over to the east ramp. (They keep a fuel truck on the south ramp, but no people.)

Okay, so it's like what I have on the 210. Gotcha. In my case, since we don't have a fuel truck, I need to taxi for fuel or walk to the FBO in any case...

 

[Tom-D]

My aircraft was built before check list were invented, or somebody threw away the clay tablets, I made up one, Front side says " FUEL IT" the back says "FLY IT"

You must know how to fuel and fly,,,,,,, right?

 

[Ted]

For the Aztec I keep some disposable printed out sheets for calculating W&B (has spots to fill in for weights in the different locations). Also, in that booklet I keep the dates/hours for when some of the significant recurrent items are due (oil change, VOR check, transponder check, annual). I tend to have a bad memory on such things, so it's good to have them right there reminding me every time I fly the plane.

 

[wabower]

FWIW, we found there were some V-speeds and Emegency procedures we wanted close at hand if needed. A guy who flies lots of different airplanes told us that he writes important number on the inside of the pilot-side W/S with grease pencil, then erases it after the trip. So we just copied the stuff we wanted onto a 1/2 sheet transparancy and taped it to the lower pilot-side windshield by the doorpost. Easy to see through in normal situations, but easy to see if you really needed something quick.

 

[sba55]

I don't have V speeds, engine settings, performance curves, or anything along those lines on my checklist because those aren't checklist items. A checklist isn't a reference or instruction manual and adding all this stuff distracts from the checklist's actual purpose. RPM settings, speeds, abnormal procedures, etc. have/are memory items. Ideally, I want to get to a point where the immediate needs are addressed, giving me time to open a reference (like the POH).

For every X/C flight, I put in the W&B and other data and print out a reference data sheet. That sheet has relevant weight-adjusted V-speeds (mostly, I care about Va and Best Glide), target fuel flow, NOTAMs, closest VFR weather, and misc arrival information like FBO frequency/phone.