Checklists - there can be little doubt that operating an aircraft is safer if you use them. I live my whole life with checklists - we write procedures, test procedures, edit procedures, approve procedures - in the space business, we don't even answer the PHONE without a checklist! The paper procedures for an average Space Shuttle mission takes up about 5 feet of bookshelf space - that's a lot of paper! Back when the Shuttle was designed, paper was the only way to do it. But when the Space Station came along, new technologies presented themselves, and the fact that procedures change quite often on a new and experimental vehicle (that is constantly changing) and the difficulty of bringing more paper copies to Orbit prompted us to develop electronic checklist - procedures that live in the computer system and can be changed by uplinking new files from the ground. In actuality, they are nothing more than Word, HTML, and PDF documents, many with hyperlinks to make navigating the many nested and interconnected tasks easier - but it does cut down on the paper!
Similarly, in the aviation world, checklists have been evolving, At their simplest, they can be just a few lines on a placard attached to the instrument panel showing the things to check for Take-off and Landing. More complexity gives us cue cards, flip-books, or manuals with many steps and multiple procedures for different phases of flight - including emergencies. More recently, as Glass Cockpits have appeared, we have seen electronic versions of these textual documents showing up in cockpits. Again, the simple approach is to have a simple electronic display of what would be on paper. A more sophisticated approach is to have one which not only gives you things to check, but can display actual data from aircraft sensors (it says "Oil Pressure - check between 40 - 80", and then displays the actual pressure). The ultimate electronic checklist would be like you see in more sophisticated aircraft - "Intelligent" checklists that sense many parameters and conditions, and display only those things that are not yet in configuration for the phase of flight you are in. An example would be a Take-off checklist that would say "Canopy - close and latch" until the canopy is indeed closed and latched - and then disappears when the task is complete. A blank page means you are ready to go!
I must admit to being just a bit of a Luddite when it comes to electronic checklists. I am not a big fan of the simple electronic presentation of a textual checklist, although I know many people that like this. In the Valkyrie, I have ring-bound laminated checklists that I develop on a word processor, and update maybe once a year as I change my mind on things. I like this method because I am used to using paper, and can hold the cards in one hand with my thumb on the step I am performing so I don?t' lose my place. If I am using the same basic checklist on a display, I have to hold my finger on the screen, or I get lost, and continuously have to find my place - for me, it is easy to miss a step this way. More intelligent Electronic Checklists are easier for me - if all I have to do is make the screen go blank, then it frequently doesn't matter if I get lost - once I've done everything, I'm good to go.
The other problem I have with electronic checklists on the EFIS is that I like to set all my screens up for flight, and if I have to use one of them for the checklist, then I can't do this on that screen until the very end. Louise has gotten used to this in her airplane, and has a checklist and a way of displaying the data that makes this less of an issue, so I am sure that it is doable. Now I haven't thought about the 396?.does it have checklist capability? That would be a screen that isn't doing anything until after take-off - but then I'd still have to sacrifice whatever I am looking for in flight if I needed a list. I have watched a few people using electronic checklists, and while most use them before take-off, I notice that they do the descent and landing checklists from memory because they don't want to give up the screen real estate.
Of course, if you have one of those "jumbo-tron" displays that has plenty of real estate, this isn't much of a problem?.
I'd welcome some discussion on the topic - such discussion can help the designers of EFIS's (many of whom read these forums) build the next generation of software. I know that folks are working on it - the Vertical Power systems a sort of headed in this direction, making the system a "virtual Co-pilot" to help configure the aircraft. Building a checklist that is interactive in the sense that it only shows you the things that still need to be done for a flight phase will require more sensors, and more integration with the airframe - which means more complexity, and that is not always desirable in what are, at their heart, simple aircraft. Complexity for complexities sake is not good design in my book. But I simply am not a big fan of the "text checklist on a screen", just to get rid of paper. We just don't have enough screen real estate in the planes we fly to make that work the way we do on the Space Station - or in Mission Control. In fact, I usually have 5 or 6 books open at one time when I am working a typical Space Shuttle operation, and I simply don't have enough screen space to do that electronically.
Maybe I'll build my checklists an put them on my Sony Reader (the device I use to view Approach Plates). For a "Paper Luddite" like me, that might be a dip of the old toe in the water?..
Paul
Similarly, in the aviation world, checklists have been evolving, At their simplest, they can be just a few lines on a placard attached to the instrument panel showing the things to check for Take-off and Landing. More complexity gives us cue cards, flip-books, or manuals with many steps and multiple procedures for different phases of flight - including emergencies. More recently, as Glass Cockpits have appeared, we have seen electronic versions of these textual documents showing up in cockpits. Again, the simple approach is to have a simple electronic display of what would be on paper. A more sophisticated approach is to have one which not only gives you things to check, but can display actual data from aircraft sensors (it says "Oil Pressure - check between 40 - 80", and then displays the actual pressure). The ultimate electronic checklist would be like you see in more sophisticated aircraft - "Intelligent" checklists that sense many parameters and conditions, and display only those things that are not yet in configuration for the phase of flight you are in. An example would be a Take-off checklist that would say "Canopy - close and latch" until the canopy is indeed closed and latched - and then disappears when the task is complete. A blank page means you are ready to go!
I must admit to being just a bit of a Luddite when it comes to electronic checklists. I am not a big fan of the simple electronic presentation of a textual checklist, although I know many people that like this. In the Valkyrie, I have ring-bound laminated checklists that I develop on a word processor, and update maybe once a year as I change my mind on things. I like this method because I am used to using paper, and can hold the cards in one hand with my thumb on the step I am performing so I don?t' lose my place. If I am using the same basic checklist on a display, I have to hold my finger on the screen, or I get lost, and continuously have to find my place - for me, it is easy to miss a step this way. More intelligent Electronic Checklists are easier for me - if all I have to do is make the screen go blank, then it frequently doesn't matter if I get lost - once I've done everything, I'm good to go.
The other problem I have with electronic checklists on the EFIS is that I like to set all my screens up for flight, and if I have to use one of them for the checklist, then I can't do this on that screen until the very end. Louise has gotten used to this in her airplane, and has a checklist and a way of displaying the data that makes this less of an issue, so I am sure that it is doable. Now I haven't thought about the 396?.does it have checklist capability? That would be a screen that isn't doing anything until after take-off - but then I'd still have to sacrifice whatever I am looking for in flight if I needed a list. I have watched a few people using electronic checklists, and while most use them before take-off, I notice that they do the descent and landing checklists from memory because they don't want to give up the screen real estate.
Of course, if you have one of those "jumbo-tron" displays that has plenty of real estate, this isn't much of a problem?.
I'd welcome some discussion on the topic - such discussion can help the designers of EFIS's (many of whom read these forums) build the next generation of software. I know that folks are working on it - the Vertical Power systems a sort of headed in this direction, making the system a "virtual Co-pilot" to help configure the aircraft. Building a checklist that is interactive in the sense that it only shows you the things that still need to be done for a flight phase will require more sensors, and more integration with the airframe - which means more complexity, and that is not always desirable in what are, at their heart, simple aircraft. Complexity for complexities sake is not good design in my book. But I simply am not a big fan of the "text checklist on a screen", just to get rid of paper. We just don't have enough screen real estate in the planes we fly to make that work the way we do on the Space Station - or in Mission Control. In fact, I usually have 5 or 6 books open at one time when I am working a typical Space Shuttle operation, and I simply don't have enough screen space to do that electronically.
Maybe I'll build my checklists an put them on my Sony Reader (the device I use to view Approach Plates). For a "Paper Luddite" like me, that might be a dip of the old toe in the water?..
Paul
