Bombers and Checklists

[k5083]

I listen to the NPR Hidden Brain podcast, which is about psychology as it applies to everyday life.

http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510308/hidden-brain

This week's episode was about how checklists can reduce fatal errors in fields such as medicine. It starts with an account of the Boeing 299 (prototype B-17) crash and discusses how checklists were used in WWII when large numbers of guys had to be trained to operate the new generation of much more complex airplane. It seems not to do too much violence to the history and it discusses how the use of checklists became common not just in aviation but in other fields, most recently medicine, starting from WWII military aviation. I thought it was an interesting take on the relationship between aviation history and the rest of the world.

August

[Ken]

I look forward to hearing this. What's a funny follow-on issue is the human factors aspect of checklists - everything from why guys skip them, abbreviate them, or make mistakes due to the way they were written.

Ken

[k5083]

Yeah, you'll hear something of that in the podcast. It is quite fascinating.

August

[ignomini]

Not directly related, but another example of the solution to one need benefitting medicine is McLaren Formula 1 pit stops and hospital operating rooms. After working to achieve the maximum possible efficiency in performing pit stops at the races, McLaren then went on to consult hospitals and help them design operating room work flows to maximize efficiency and save valuable time, thus saving more lives.

[JohnB]

Author Ernest K. Gann made the same point about checklists in several of his writings about his career as an airline pilot.

I've always assumed they came into use with the B-29, with its many systems, arguably the first complex, modern, type in wide use.

In my father's old A-2 jacket we found a hand typed checklist, laminated between (now yellowed) thin flexible plastic and held together with (now rusted) staples. I've always assumed it was from his copilot days in B-17s storage very end of the war. It shows that someone was thinking about checklists early than usually thought.

[Taigh Ramey]

The Army Air Corps drawings have a checklist holder with the number of 39D3922. The first two digits are the year that the drawing was made namely 1939. Four years after the crash of the model 299. The letter D is the drawing size and the last four are the specific drawing presumably done in sequence.

The holder is made from two acetate sheets with a spacer on the edge made from the same material and it was riveted together. This holder was protection for the various checklists that were slipped inside and held in place with a web strap. This strap would snap onto a post that was mounted in the cockpit of the aircraft near the pilot or crew member. I have seen these posts or studs in most all ex military aircraft. They were also used well after WWII.

Here is a photo of some of the NOS holders I have showing the Air Corps drawing number:

[wendovertom]

There is a retired AF Brigadier General here in Utah that is a super nice guy with more than 4 thousand flight hours. It is his contention that accidents happen when you get to self important to use a checklist. Can't argue with his flight record.

Tom P.