Since issuing a warning in March last year on the proper use of checklists, NASA said its Aviation Safety Reporting System continues to receive a “significant number of incident reports related to checklist errors.” For this reason, program officials said that “another look at some of the factors affecting proper checklist usage is warranted.”
Hence, the most recent ASRS Callback newsletter contains examples of poor and improper use of checklists reported by operators themselves. These recent ASRS reports highlight five items that should be on everyone’s preventing checklist errors checklist: remember to use it; check every item, every time; slow down; confirm critical items; read it correctly; and, if interrupted, restart from the beginning.
The subject is particularly well timed in view of the NTSB's recent conclusions regarding the fatal attempted takeoff accident of a Gulfsteam IV at Bedford, Mass., on May 31, 2014. According to the Safety Board’s final report, a major contributing factor to the cause of the crash was the flight crew’s “habitual noncompliance with checklists.”