Training and Safety Tip: Read the fine print
Avoid the 'gotchas'
Many checklists and instrument approach procedures come with notes. These notes appear within the checklists in your aircraft's flight manual, and they are displayed in a box just under the frequency, course, and elevation box on an instrument approach procedure chart.
How important are these little hints and notes? Very important. In the real world, ignoring them can put you and your passengers in danger; in flight training, they can lead to a busted checkride.
This example of a checklist note is a golden oldie drawn from the Douglas DC–9 Operating Manual's "Hydraulic Quantity Loss" procedure:
If the right hydraulic system is affected, the gear must be operated with the alternate hydraulic pump or by free fall if the failure was in the landing gear hydraulic system. Refer to ALTERNATE GEAR EXTENSION AFTER RIGHT HYDRAULIC SYSTEM FAILURE abnormal in this section.
These examples do not appear as steps on a checklist or as part of the main instrument approach chart, but they contain vital information that deserves your attention.
The best way to notice and handle the fine print is to do what professional pilots do: Read it out loud. This is important when operating as a multiperson flight crew, but it also is a vital habit when you fly solo because it helps focus your mind and attention.
If you know your destination or the maneuvers or instrument procedures planned for your next flight lesson, you can read the notes in your easy chair at home. Take the time to study the checklists and procedures; recite them out loud—more than once.
This preflight study and preparation do not relieve you of the requirement to read the notes while in flight, but if you are familiar with them, the process will be much smoother and more professional.
When studying aircraft emergency or abnormal procedure checklists, you will discover that the notes can change your entire focus and may prevent you from taking the wrong path.
For example, the Cessna 172 has a vital reminder written as a note in its WING FIRE procedure:
Perform a sideslip to keep the flames away from the fuel tank and cabin.
If you were dealing with an in-flight fire, you would not have the time or the attention span to read this note. This exemplifies the importance of having a few audible read-throughs in your easy chair.
Taking the time to read the entire checklist including the notes, or the entire approach plate with its notes, will pay off tremendously for you as a student and a pilot.
If you need more time to reference the checklist in flight and it is not an emergency, ask air traffic control for a hold or delay vectors. A hurried, half-done checklist or instrument approach briefing is a shortcut to embarrassment or, in flight training, an unsuccessful checkride.
