Recent reports to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) show an increase in checklist errors. Flights roll onto the runway for departure only for the pilots to discover that flaps are not properly set for takeoff. A flight takes off and the autobrakes are not set for a rejected takeoff. A flight departs and climbs out only to discover that pressurization packs are not on.
How can that be? Setting the flaps for takeoff is on the checklist! Making sure the autobrakes are set is on the checklist! Checking that the packs are on and pressurization is set is on the checklist!
What’s going on here? Is something wrong with our pilots? Have we lost our checklist discipline? Or is something wrong with our checklists?
As is often the case, the truth is somewhere in between. That is, the problem is in the interaction. Our procedures and checklists are not always sensitive to our humanness, and we encounter conflicts betwe…
