P-47 check list (caution long)

[Widewing]

Originally posted by spitfiremkv
i assume you memorize the checklist, only glance at it in passing.
eventually it becomes a routine.
indeed it's a bit longer than one you would find for trainer, but not overly long.

I flew with some Navy pilots who thought they had memorized the checklists... Usually they would miss something. So, I would insist that they READ the checklists outloud, or they would not be flying that day. I would simply pull the cannon plugs on the VHF and UHF radios in the rack next to my seat... No comms, no flying. I kept a pair of dykes in my flightsuit just to cut safetywire, like that on the cannon plugs.

Whether or not you have memorized the checklists, it is flat out dumb not to read them. One mistake or oversight can get the entire crew killed.

I have seen pilots begin a takoff roll having failed to turn on the boost pumps, while not setting the flaps to 1/3 either. That is a deadly combination. Lose a mechanical pump and you lose the engine. Lose an engine on takeoff and and it gets dicey enough, but with the flaps up you have raised your single-engine minimum speed enough to get you dead. I don't think those guys had ever had their butts chewed by a 2nd Class Petty Officer before.

Checklists are there for a reason. Relying on memory is simply an accident looking for a good place to happen.

My regards,

Widewing

[Toad]

Originally posted by Traveler
I don't know about early jets, but what aircraft are you talking abou tin Vietnam that used a cartridge starter system? ....

  I also know of no "Jets" in Vietnam that used a cartridge starting system.

The F-4C was very similar to the F-4B, even retaining arresting gear and folding wings, but featured a number of changes:


J79-GE-15 engines, which were similar to the J79-GE-8 engines used on the F-4B, but were slightly uprated and used a cartridge starter system, instead of an external compressed-air starting system. This allowed the F-4C to "self-start" and operate from remote airstrips with minimal ground support gear.

[Krusty]

Wasn't the first plane with a preflight checklist the YB-17? The first prototype crashed on takeoff because of a locked elevator (or something that made it easier to taxi)? After that they initiated a checklist and used it on every B17 flight.