What Is a Checklist in Aviation? Why Pilots Read Every Item Out Loud

A checklist in aviation is a written, step-by-step list of actions a pilot performs to set up, operate, or troubleshoot an aircraft safely. Pilots read each item aloud and verify it physically, so nothing critical gets skipped from memory. Checklists exist for every phase of flight — preflight, before takeoff, cruise, landing, and emergencies.

If you’ve ever watched an airline crew point at switches and call them out before pushback, you’ve seen a checklist in action. It looks slow. It looks almost theatrical. But that little ritual is one of the single most powerful safety tools ever invented in aviation — and it was born out of a crash.

I’m going to walk you through exactly what a checklist is, why it exists, the different kinds you’ll use as a student pilot, and how to actually run one without looking like you’re reading a cereal box. This is day-one stuff, so let’s get it right from the start.

What is a checklist in aviation?

A checklist in aviation is a written, sequential list of tasks a pilot uses to confirm an aircraft is correctly configured and safe for a given phase of flight. Each item names an action or a check — “Fuel selector — BOTH,” “Flaps — SET” — and the pilot verifies it physically rather than trusting memory. It is a tool of verification, not instruction.

That distinction matters more than anything else I can teach you here. A checklist does not tell you how to start the engine. It assumes you already know how and reminds you of the exact items, in the exact order, so you don’t forget the master switch or the carb heat under pressure.

Think of it the way a surgeon thinks of a surgical safety checklist, or the way you’d run through a list before a long road trip. Humans forget steps when they’re busy, distracted, or stressed — and a cockpit is all three at once. The checklist is the backstop the FAA expects you to use on every flight.

You’ll find checklists referenced throughout the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK, FAA-H-8083-25C) and built directly into your airplane’s operating handbook. They aren’t optional paperwork. They are part of how the airplane is meant to be flown.

Why do pilots use checklists at all?

Pilots use checklists because human memory is unreliable under workload, and a forgotten step can be fatal. The checklist removes the gamble. Instead of hoping you remembered the flaps, the trim, and the fuel selector, you read the list, touch each control, and confirm. It turns “I think I did that” into “I know I did that.”

The history here is worth knowing. In 1935, a brand-new Boeing Model 299 — the prototype of the B-17 — crashed on takeoff at Wright Field, killing the two pilots. The airplane wasn’t broken. The crew had simply forgotten to release a flight control lock. The aircraft was so capable and so complex that no single pilot could reliably hold every step in their head. Boeing’s answer wasn’t a smarter pilot. It was a pilot’s checklist. That idea spread to every cockpit in the world.

Checklists also create a shared standard. When two pilots fly together, the checklist gives them a script — one reads, one responds — so nothing falls through the cracks between them. That challenge-and-response habit is a core piece of Crew Resource Management (CRM), and the FAA leans on it hard in the multi-crew world (the airline standard-operating-procedure guidance in Advisory Circular AC 120-71 is built around exactly this).

For you as a student, the checklist is also how you build habits that stick. Run it the same way every time and the discipline becomes automatic — which is exactly what you want when the workload spikes on your first solo.

What are the different types of aviation checklists?

Aviation checklists fall into three broad families: normal, abnormal, and emergency. Normal checklists cover routine phases of flight. Abnormal checklists handle non-critical malfunctions, like a rough-running engine or an alternator failure. Emergency checklists cover the situations that threaten the flight immediately — engine fire, engine failure, smoke in the cockpit.

Within a normal flight, the checklist is broken into phases. Here’s how a typical single-engine trainer like a Cessna 172 lays it out:

Notice the logic: each checklist matches a moment when forgetting something gets dangerous. The before-takeoff check exists because that’s when a stuck control lock or wrong trim setting will hurt you. The exact items always come from your specific airplane’s handbook — a Piper Cherokee’s list won’t match a 172’s, even though the phases line up.

Some operators also use a “killer items” or “challenge-response” subset — the handful of steps that have historically caused accidents when missed. Fuel, flaps, trim, and flight controls free are the classic ones.

How do you actually run a checklist in the cockpit?

There are two ways to run a checklist, and you’ll use both. The “read-and-do” method means you read an item, then perform it — ideal for students and for complex or unfamiliar procedures. The “do-and-verify” (flow-then-check) method means you perform a memorized flow around the cockpit, then use the checklist to confirm you missed nothing. Beginners start with read-and-do.

Here’s the part people get wrong: a checklist only works if you actually look and touch. Reading “fuel selector — both” while your hand never leaves the yoke is theater, not safety. Point at the selector. Confirm it’s on BOTH. Then move on. The physical verification is the whole point.

Read it out loud, even when you’re alone. Saying the item engages a different part of your brain than reading it silently, and it slows you down just enough to actually check. Single-pilot operators do this constantly — it feels strange for about three flights, then it feels wrong not to.

Don’t rush, and don’t let anyone rush you. If ATC or your instructor interrupts you mid-checklist, the safe move is to go back to the top of that section, not to guess where you left off. A half-finished checklist is more dangerous than an honest restart.

Get this habit right early and it pays off for the rest of your flying life — written exam, first lesson, first solo, every flight after. Our free Total Student Pilot course walks you through exactly how to set up and run your first checklists, and the full Private Pilot Ground School ties checklist discipline into every phase of flight you’ll be tested on.

Where do aircraft checklists come from?

The authoritative checklist for your airplane comes from its Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH) or FAA-approved Airplane Flight Manual (AFM). Section 4, “Normal Procedures,” and Section 3, “Emergency Procedures,” contain the manufacturer’s checklists. Any checklist card you carry should match those sections — not contradict or shortcut them.

This is a place where students get burned. There are great-looking checklist apps and printed cards for sale, and most are fine — but they are convenience copies. If a card ever disagrees with the POH, the POH wins. The handbook is the legal, FAA-recognized source; the card is just a tidy reproduction of it.

For newer aircraft, the AFM is required to be on board and is type-specific, even down to the serial number for some equipment. Older airplanes may rely on the POH plus placards and the airspeed markings on the panel. Either way, the principle holds: fly the checklist that belongs to your airplane, in its current configuration.

A quick reality check on the ramp — if your rental’s checklist card is faded, missing items, or clearly older than the avionics in the panel, ask the flight school for a current one. Don’t fly behind a checklist you don’t trust.

What is an emergency checklist and what are memory items?

An emergency checklist covers situations that threaten the aircraft immediately, and it’s structured differently from a normal checklist. The most time-critical steps are “memory items” (also called immediate-action items) — the handful of actions you must perform from memory, instantly, before you ever pick up the paper. The rest of the checklist is then read to clean up and verify.

Engine failure after takeoff is the classic example. There’s no time to find a card and start reading — you pitch for best glide, pick a landing spot, and run your memorized flow (fuel, mixture, mags, primer, master). Only once the airplane is under control and you have a moment do you reference the written emergency checklist to confirm you didn’t miss anything.

This is why your instructor will drill certain procedures until they’re automatic. Memory items aren’t about being a hero; they’re about buying the seconds that matter. The FAA expects private pilot applicants to know the memory items for their aircraft cold (see the Private Pilot – Airplane Airman Certification Standards, FAA-S-ACS-6C).

For everything that isn’t immediately life-threatening — an alternator light, a rough mag, a door that pops open — there’s no rush. Fly the airplane first, then find the right abnormal or emergency checklist and work it calmly. “Aviate, navigate, communicate” comes before “read the checklist,” always.

A real lesson: the day a checklist caught a fuel mistake in Alaska

I learned to respect the checklist the hard way — not from a crash, thankfully, but from a near-miss that the checklist itself caught.

Years ago I was flying a Cessna 172 out of a small strip in Alaska on a busy day. We’d topped off the tanks, I’d been chatting with the line guy, and I was a little behind. I climbed in, ran through my before-start flow from memory, and reached for the key. Everything felt right. The airplane felt familiar, the day felt routine, and routine is exactly when you get sloppy.

But I ran the written checklist anyway, the way I always do. “Fuel selector — BOTH.” I looked down. It was on LEFT. I’d bumped it climbing in, or it had been left there from the last leg — I genuinely don’t know. On a short bush strip with terrain off the departure end, taking off feeding from one tank instead of both is the kind of small error that writes the first line of an accident report.

Two seconds. That’s all the checklist cost me, and it caught something my memory flow had glossed right over because everything felt normal. That’s the lesson I give every student: the checklist is most valuable on the days you’re most sure you don’t need it. The routine flight, the familiar airplane, the “I’ve done this a hundred times” flight — that’s when the discipline of touching every item earns its keep.

I’ve taught aviation since 2006 and held my CFI since 2017, and I have never met an experienced pilot who skips the checklist on purpose. The ones who’ve been around long enough have all had their own LEFT-instead-of-BOTH moment.

PLT Study Guide

The FAA tags knowledge-test questions with PLT (Pilot Learning Statement) codes. For checklists, the directly relevant codes are below. Note: a common index lists PLT139 for this topic, but PLT139 actually covers aircraft warning systems (stall, fire, gear, terrain) — not checklists — so don’t study it for this subject.

PLT122 — Recall aircraft operations: checklist usage. This is the core code for this article. Know that checklists are verification tools used in every phase of flight, that “read-and-do” and “do-and-verify” are the two methods, and that the authoritative checklist comes from the POH/AFM. Expect questions on when and why a checklist is used.

PLT445 — Recall regulations: preflight requirements. Your preflight inspection is run with a checklist, and the regulations require you to be familiar with all available information before a flight. Connect the preflight checklist to your pilot-in-command responsibility to determine the aircraft is airworthy.

PLT209 — Recall emergency conditions / procedures. Emergency checklists and memory items live here. Know which steps are immediate-action (memory) items for your aircraft and that you fly the airplane first, then run the written emergency checklist. (Watch out for PLT208 — that’s the electrical system code, not emergencies.)

PLT104 — Recall Aeronautical Decision Making (ADM): human factors / CRM. Checklists are a CRM tool — challenge-and-response between crew members, and the backstop against memory failure under workload. Understand checklist discipline as a defense against the human factors that cause accidents.

Frequently Asked Questions

FROM CHRIS

A checklist isn’t busywork, and it isn’t a sign that you don’t know your airplane — it’s the opposite. The most professional pilots I’ve ever flown with are the ones who touch every item, every time, especially on the day everything feels easy. Build that habit now, while you’re learning, and it’ll quietly protect you for the rest of your flying life.

Throttle On!

Chris Palmer

Founder & Chief CFI, Angle of Attack — Two-Time Master Aviation Educator and Gold Seal CFI