Bumpy Flight Pre-Flight Checklist
Read it out loud once. Most wipes were already decided at the gate.
Tap a line when that hangar job is finished.
This checklist is the tool players actually need. Not a fuel formula. A sequence. If your stack runs it, you take off into a flight that can be completed. If you skip it, you take off into a lecture. Print it in your head. Then open how to complete a flight only if you still fail after a clean gate.
The list
- People. Who is Pilot, cabin, engineer, floater? If that sentence has blanks, fill them with the crew planner before anyone sits.
- Mouse and binds. Pilot confirms they remember SHIFT up, CTRL down, W/S pitch, A/D turn. If they do not, they read controls while you load bags.
- Luggage. Every visible bag moves from the cart or belt onto the aircraft. Do not leave “one later.” Later is cruise, and cruise is already busy.
- Boarding. Passengers are in the tube and in seats. Wanderers get walked. This is cabin work even if cabin is also carrying a suitcase.
- Early requests. If someone already wants a blanket or medicine, solve it on the ground. Ground requests are cheap.
- Fuel. Tanks get filled. The person who “thought you did it” did not do it. Call “fuel done” in chat.
- Supplies. Someone touches the terminal. Wrench, medicine, blankets — know the path from the supplies guide. Engineer should be able to point without turning around.
- Doors and clutter. Do not leave a pile of props in the aisle if you can avoid it. BETA physics is hungry.
- Radio check. One sentence: “I have the plane.” Cabin and engineer answer with their jobs. Then throttle.
- No hero sit. If luggage is still moving, the Pilot stays standing. The seat is the last box, not the first.
How to run it in voice
One person reads the numbers. Everyone else only speaks when their line is done. It takes forty seconds and it feels like overkill until the first night you skip fuel. Then it feels like religion.
Public servers will not recite with you. Do the silent version. You still fuel. You still touch supplies. You still refuse the yoke until bags move. You will look boring and you will land more often.
How to run it after a wipe
Start at the line you skipped, not at the joke. If the wipe was an unmanned dive, the failed line was 9 or 10. If it was a dry tank, it was 6. If it was a late wrench, it was 7. The checklist is also a post-flight tool.
What the checklist is not
It is not a substitute for emergencies. It cannot stop a scripted engine failure. It can make sure the engineer is already in position when that failure arrives. It also cannot redeem a code. Do codes in the menu before step 10 if a real string ever appears on the Codes Hub.
BETA footnote
If a step is impossible because a prompt is broken, mark it, retry, and continue. Do not stall the aircraft for five minutes on a stuck bag. The BETA notes give you permission to move on. The checklist is a servant, not a warden.
Read it. Then go fly a route that deserves a landing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
What is the most skipped pre-flight step?
Fuel and the supply-terminal scout. Both are invisible until they wipe you.
Should the Pilot read the checklist?
Anyone can read it. The Pilot should not sit until the bags and fuel lines are done.
Can I use this solo?
Yes. You just perform every line yourself, which is why solo flights start slower and fail more often.