{"id":5366,"date":"2019-12-19T20:53:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T00:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=5366"},"modified":"2022-03-17T15:29:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T19:29:59","slug":"aircraft-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Aircraft Checklist: How It Works + How to Harness Its Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How do aircraft checklists keep us safe? The field of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aviation-safety\/\">aviation<\/a> was one of the first to adopt the use of checklists, and we can learn a lot from how the rigor of these checklists (and the professionals who use them) keep passengers safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;ll cover aviation checklists at Boeing and discuss how checklists can benefit the rest of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Boeing Discovers <\/strong>Aircraft Checklists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1935, the Army Air Corps asked airplane manufacturers for a new long-range bomber. Boeing\u2019s Model 299, which exceeded specifications, was favored over models by Martin and Douglas. However, during a flight competition held by the Army in Dayton, Ohio, the Boeing model stalled at 300 feet and crashed, killing two of five crew members.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The plane was much more complicated than previous aircraft \u2014 the pilot had more steps to follow and forgot to release a new locking mechanism on the elevator and rudder controls. After the accident, a newspaper called the new model \u201ctoo much airplane for one man to fly.\u201d&nbsp; The Army Air Corps chose Douglas\u2019s smaller design, and Boeing took a big financial hit.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nonetheless, the Army bought a few Model 299s as test planes and a group of test pilots studied how to prevent future pilot errors. Instead of focusing on requiring longer training, they came up with a pilot\u2019s aviation checklist. Flying up to that point had not been especially complicated, but flying the new plane required too many details to be left to memory.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The test pilots made their aircraft checklist simple, clear, and concise \u2014 it fit on an index card \u2014 with step-by-step checks for takeoff, landing, and taxiing. Using the checklist, pilots went on to fly the bomber, which became the B-17 Flying Fortress, 1.8 million miles without incident. The Army ordered 13,000, and the bomber gave the allies a big air advantage in World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aircraft checklists have become essential in aviation, averting problems and accidents. In notebook and electronic forms, they\u2019re a standard and crucial part of pilot training and aircraft operation.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Benefits of Checklists&nbsp;<\/strong>for Us All<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Aircraft checklists aren&#8217;t the only checklists that are useful. In complex environments, checklists can help to prevent failure by addressing two problems:<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1) Our memory and our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-on-the-details\/\">attention to detail<\/a> fail when we\u2019re distracted by more urgent matters<\/strong>. For instance, if you\u2019re a nurse, you might forget to take a patient\u2019s pulse when she\u2019s throwing up, a family member is asking questions, and you\u2019re being paged.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Forgetfulness and distraction are especially risky in what engineers call all-or-none processes, where if you miss one key thing, you fail at the task. For instance, if you go to the store to buy ingredients for a cake and forget to buy eggs, you can\u2019t make the recipe because it wouldn\u2019t work without eggs. The consequences are more serious if a pilot misses a step during take-off or a doctor misses the key symptom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2)<\/strong> <strong>People have a tendency to skip steps even when they remember them<\/strong>. In complex processes, certain steps don\u2019t always matter, so people may play the odds and skip them. For instance, if measuring all four of a patient\u2019s vital signs (pulse, blood pressure, temperature, and respiration) only rarely detects a problem, you might become lax about checking everything.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Checklists, including aircraft checklists, protect against such failures because <strong>they remind you of the minimum necessary steps<\/strong> by spelling them out. They allow you to verify each step while also establishing and instilling a performance standard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do aircraft checklists keep us safe? The field of aviation was one of the first to adopt the use of checklists, and we can learn a lot from how the rigor of these checklists (and the professionals who use them) keep passengers safe. We&#8217;ll cover aviation checklists at Boeing and discuss how checklists can benefit the rest of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,24],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-5366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management","category-society","tag-checklist-manifesto","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aircraft Checklist: How It Works + How to Harness Its Power - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How do aircraft checklists keep us safe? 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Learn how the field of aviation adopted checklists to keep passengers safe, and how the rest of us can use them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-20T00:53:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-17T19:29:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/checklist-aircraft-checklist.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"498\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Penn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Penn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amanda Penn\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0\"},\"headline\":\"Aircraft Checklist: How It Works + How to Harness Its Power\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-20T00:53:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-17T19:29:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/\"},\"wordCount\":598,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/checklist-aircraft-checklist.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Checklist Manifesto\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Management\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/\",\"name\":\"Aircraft Checklist: How It Works + How to Harness Its Power - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/aircraft-checklist\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/checklist-aircraft-checklist.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-20T00:53:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-17T19:29:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"How do aircraft checklists keep us safe? 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