Checklists indispensable to air safety

I have often thought single-pilot multi-engine charter flying is the most demanding sphere of civil aviation. The pilot can be responsible for flight planning, fuel load, passenger and baggage, often with time pressure, as well as safely flying the aircraft.

But there is no excuse for missing vital cockpit checklists that ensure the safety of the flight.

The KingAir checklists specify in the before-engine start cockpit set up, that the three control surface trims of pitch (electric switch on the control column yoke) and manual aileron and rudder trim wheels be checked through the full range and be returned to the neutral takeoff settings. The trim wheels are highly visible just behind the throttle quadrant and very obvious markings indicate the neutral position.

The taxi checklist also requires the pilot to verify the trims are set for takeoff.

On the takeoff roll, it would have been apparent quite early as aerodynamic forces increased as the speed built up that the aircraft was wanting to deviate to the left.

This would have needed increasing right rudder to keep straight — so why did the pilot not abort takeoff before the rotation point? It would have been increasingly obvious there was a problem.

Simulator training emphasises the need to stop for any problem before 80 knots. The aircraft apparently rotated after a ground roll of 700m, which still left plenty of room to stop. At this stage, the pilot would have had his hands full: full right rudder and aileron just to try to keep straight and unable to retract the landing gear. As well as missing a required pre-takeoff visual check of the rudder trim position, the pilot continued while having control difficulties when all training would demand a discontinuation.

Engine fire/failure and loss of directional control are safety ­issues that are not taken into the air before the vital speed V1, which occurs just before rotation and there is no choice but to abort the takeoff.

There is a widespread opinion among general aviation pilots that checklists are too long-winded, thus increasing the likelihood of missing an item, but this incident shows how vital it is for ­pilots to take time to action checklists fully and undergo takeoff emergencies simulator training.

Byron Bailey is a former RAAF fighter pilot and Emirates 777 captain.