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How to Build a Sim Cockpit Checklist
Heshan Fernando
Co-founder & COO
Simulator flying gets more interesting the moment you stop treating startup as a sequence of clicks to get through and start treating it as a procedure.
The difference is having something to read from, and having it in the format real procedures use.
Challenge and response
The format multi-crew aircraft use, and the reason it catches errors.
Each item states the check and the expected answer:
FUEL SELECTOR … BOTH MIXTURE … RICH FLAPS … UP
One person reads the challenge, the other confirms the response. The expected answer is written down, so an incorrect state is caught rather than glossed over.
Flying alone in a simulator, you read both parts. That sounds redundant and is not — saying the expected value aloud before looking makes you check the actual value rather than seeing what you expect to see.
The alternative format, a plain list of actions, is faster and catches nothing. “Set fuel selector” is completed by touching it; “FUEL SELECTOR — BOTH” is completed by verifying it.
Flows and checklists are different things
The distinction that makes procedures make sense.
A flow is a physical path around the cockpit performed from memory — left to right across the panel, top to bottom, touching each control in sequence. It is fast, and once learned it is how the work actually gets done.
A checklist is read afterwards to verify the flow was completed correctly. It is not the way the work is performed; it is the check that it was.
That is why real checklists are shorter than the number of actions taken. They confirm the critical items rather than instructing every step.
For a simulator pilot learning an aircraft, the useful progression is: use the checklist as an instruction list initially, learn the flow, then use the checklist as it is intended — as verification.
| Stage | Checklist role |
|---|---|
| Learning the aircraft | Instruction list |
| Learning the flow | Reference |
| Proficient | Verification only |
Split by phase
A single long checklist is unusable. Real procedures split by phase, and each is read at the point it applies:
Preflight — walkaround and cockpit setup. Before start — the checks before engines. After start — once running. Taxi, before takeoff, after takeoff, cruise, descent, before landing, after landing, shutdown.
Each is short — often under ten items — because it covers one transition rather than the whole flight.
Splitting also means you can print the phases you actually use. A simulator session starting on the runway does not need the preflight page.
Print it
A checklist in a second window is a checklist you will not read, because reading it means leaving the cockpit view.
Printed and folded beside the keyboard, it is glanceable. On a single A4 sheet, folded, with phases on separate panels, most light aircraft procedures fit comfortably.
Two columns per page keeps the type large enough to read at a glance without turning your head. Anything requiring you to find your place mid-procedure defeats the purpose.
These are not real procedures
Worth stating plainly. A checklist built for simulator use is for simulator use.
Real aircraft procedures come from the approved flight manual for that specific aircraft, with that specific equipment fit, and they are not interchangeable between aircraft that look similar. Using anything else in a real cockpit is unsafe and, for a certificated pilot, a regulatory matter.
For simulation, a well-structured checklist based on published procedures makes the aircraft far more interesting to operate, and that is the whole point.
Common mistakes to avoid
- A plain action list rather than challenge and response.
- One long checklist covering the whole flight.
- Keeping it in a second window nobody switches to.
- Treating the checklist as the way to perform the work rather than to verify it.
- Assuming a simulator checklist has any application to a real aircraft.
How to do it with Sim Checklist Builder
The Sim Checklist Builder produces a printable checklist by phase.
- Enter the aircraft and choose which phases you need.
- Use challenge and response format while learning the aircraft.
- Print it, folded, at a size readable at a glance.
- Learn the flows and let the checklist become verification.
Other simulation tools are in the tools directory.
Frequently asked questions
What is challenge and response?
A format where each item states the check and the expected answer — fuel selector, both. Saying the expected value before looking is what makes you verify rather than assume.
How is a flow different from a checklist?
A flow is a physical path around the cockpit done from memory; the checklist verifies afterwards that it was completed. Flows are how the work is done, checklists are how it is confirmed.
Are these real procedures?
No. This builds a checklist for simulator use. Real procedures come from the approved flight manual for that specific aircraft and must never be substituted.
Final thought
Print it and split it by phase. A checklist you have to alt-tab to read is one you will stop using by the third flight.