Student pilot having to divert to another airfield during circuit training

It might be a totally obvious for advanced guys but I remember the A211 has all these items explicitly quoted in the POH.
For the first hours of training it doesn’t damage to get used to the routine.
Also, if I recall vaguely – wasn’t there a thread here recently by a guy who in all seriousness asked whether one should trim the plane in all the flight stages ?

I had the A211 for the first hours as well, I was happy I had that exhaustive list, and I remember it being like:
- flaps UP
- fuel pump OFF
- lights OFF
- speed 65kts
- max power 5 minutes

Checklist looks fine but why, having made it, does he or she not use it?

EuroFlyer wrote:

Also, if I recall vaguely – wasn’t there a thread here recently by a guy who in all seriousness asked whether one should trim the plane in all the flight stages

That was me – in all seriousness – and the question was a little bit more elaborate, if I recall correctly.

It’s not encouraging for beginners – or anyone for that matter – to ask questions that may seem (too) basic, with comments like that.

MedEwok wrote:

Checklist discipline is fine while still on the ground. After take off my FI is usually happy with “flaps up” at 400 ft and that’s it. Dunnot ask me why.

Some pilots are like this. In the end, you must find a way to operate the aircraft that works well for you . Myself, I have memorised the checklists for all aircraft that I fly (no big deal compared to a stage actor who has to memorise three hours of Hamlet or Faust monologues…). Compare the current state of your aircraft with your memorised checklist and when you think you have a quiet moment, pull out your paper checklist and make sure you really forgot nothing. There are those days when even airline pilots forget to raise the flaps and this is why airline pilots who fly 6 sector per day for 6 days per week use their checklist on every single flight. (And also because otherwise an eager first officer might report them and they can go and flip burgers at the golden arches for the rest of their career.)

Our FTO has made little laminated cards (the size of a Poker card) of the three checklists that are used in flight: after takeoff, approach, final, and attached these to an empty spot of the panel in the pilot’s field of view. This eliminates the need to fiddle around with paper checklists in flight.

And one other thing (a thread drift I’m afraid) in connection with those after takeoff checklists that I have been constantly fighting (in vain…) since years: “Fuel pump – OFF” is often found very high on that checklist, giving the student/pilot the impression that it needs to be done urgently. This is totally stupid and potentially dangerous. This item belongs to the very bottom of the list. Why? The electrical fuel pump is installed as a backup for the engine driven pump. Most aircraft have no indication about that working state of that fuel pump. You will only know that it has failed because the engine runs down. When do mechanical components usually fail? When they run under maximum load, which is the takeoff and climbout. The moment you switch off your electrical backup pump after takeoff you have no way of knowing whether or not the engine driven pump is still working or not. You can only tell for sure if the engine keeps running normally. Is 400ft above ground a good place for conducting this kind of a function test for engine components? Will it harm the electrical pump in the least if it is kept running until a safe altitude is reached? If your answers to both questions are “no” and “no” you will have understood my point

MedEwok wrote:

As for the fuel pump: Why switch it off at all by the way?

This is because the electrical pumps must be among the flimsiest items ever produced with an aviation approval, even worse than vacuum pumps. They fail whenever they think their time has come. I have never experiences the failure of an engine driven pump, but numerous electric pump failures. So the less you use it, the longer it will last… And also, with the electrical pump running constantly you don’t know if your engine driven pump still works or not. And finding out that it hasn’t been working all the time when the electric pump quits is not good. And also somewhat against the concept of redundancy. There are installations with function indicators for the various pumps where you can leave on the backup pump all the time. The system will inform you when either of them has failed and you are down to a single vital system. But this is rather Airbus and Boeing stuff.

MedEwok wrote:

Thanks for your insights. I am already trying to find a style that suits me, and that means saying the critical checklist points out aloud even when alone, for better focus.

That is an excellent approach. As you gain more experience you may change your methods. But I still do the same for kill me/damage plane items.

But then I don’t understand why everything in that flow comes before “eyes out”!

It’s a reminder to some students not to hang on the instruments after checks. It is at the end of every flow… VFR at least. We in the clubs often have many Kopfmenschen who tend to keep their eyes inside for much too long time.