Table 2 .

Questions and pilots’ answers regarding ‘evolution of the checklist’

Question	Answers
When was the checklist introduced?	• In the mid-1980s, things started to get condensed, much more user-friendly and simplified with checklists • It has been in aviation for a long time – since the early days of flying, so is integral to the operation • About 40 years ago
Do you remember a time before these checklists were implemented?	• When I first started flying, everything was done from memory. We kept having mistakes; people get distracted and forget that they’ve done something or missed an item • When undergoing flying training 15 years ago on light aircraft, I was using a more extensive checklist • No – in the older days they would have been more extensive
What have been the changes in your industry since the checklist was introduced?	• The forefront of the flying operation is crew resource management •   A major change is crew resource management (CRM). As the captain, I need to make sure all my team is on board, and that they feel able to chip in [during briefings] if I’ve forgotten something. In the past, nobody would challenge the captain – the captain was god • The biggest change is the volume of flying, which has skyrocketed. If the volume of flying doubles, you’ve got to halve the incident rate just to have the same number of incidents
Has the checklist changed over time? If yes, how have these changes been implemented?	• The checklist used to be prescriptive, but the industry has tried to go away from that because it’s not very engaging. It also used to be that one person told the other what to do whereas now, we are very keen on having interactive briefings. It now works much better because it makes you pay more attention to it; in the old way, you could just sit there and switch off a bit • You used to do it on your own •  If we wanted to suggest a change to the checklist, a pilot could feedback suggestions to the company manager who would review the evidence. You just email the training department and make a suggestion, and they’ll always get back to you. There is a very, very open communication system
Do you have to undertake training in how to use the checklist?	• Not per se. It is so ingrained into the operation that checklists are a natural part of flying • In an airline operation, every 6 months you go in a simulator for two very intense training sessions. You are assessed both individually and how you work as part of a team. If your level of assessment falls below a predetermined threshold, you fail the test and are offered retraining. You can do everything right but fail your check if your interpersonal skills aren’t very good • In aviation, there’s a lot of stress management training. They talk about a bucket, saying everyone’s brain is like a bucket that you can put things in, but when it gets to the top, anything you try to put in falls out, and the bucket can’t take any more. Once you’re getting very stressed, the first thing that goes out of the window is hearing. In a situation where things are going horribly wrong, rather than telling someone to do something, instead you should ask them what their assessment of the situation is. Then you can tell how full that person’s bucket is