Last winter, when work began on the RV-12 checklists posted a
few weeks back, I had placed the checklists on laminated cards which were used
in conjunction with a kneepad. When the commitment was made to adapt the checklists
for use with the Dynon SkyView, I knew the checklists on the laminated cards seemingly
had a nice flow and covered the essentials … so the cards were basically used as the template
for the SkyView checklists. I’m sure RV-12 pilots have noticed that the
checklists are, by in large, directly from Van’s RV-12 Pilot’s Operating
Handbook and adapted to fit the SkyView’s 31 character display limit for a 40%
display … of course, additional steps were added to accommodate the DOG
Aviation RV-12’s parking brake and fuel pump switch, plus a few extra items that
seem worthwhile including.
It is interesting how something that should be so obvious isn’t. Now
that I’ve had a few flights actually using the SkyView to display the checklists,
some minor changes have been made to improve the checklists based on actual in
aircraft use and not computer screen time with a text editor. I just had to
laugh at myself the other day when I realized what reads good on paper doesn’t
necessarily make sense in the cockpit when using the SkyView to display the
checklist. As an example … the card version of the Before Start checklist began
with checking baggage area, seatbelts, passenger briefing, verifying panel switches
are off, adjusting air vents, ect. …. then turning on the Master Switch …. DUH!!!!
How could one be reading the SkyView checklist in the first place if the Master
Switch is off??? LOL (If using a paper checklist … I would still list all that
stuff first).
So after a moment of sobering clarity, the checklists have been edited and
tweaked a bit based on actual use in the RV-12. As such, I have omitted some
items and added items based on the way the SkyView boots up. For example, one
of the earlier checklists contained a step to check the expiration date of the navigation
database. This step is not needed and was DELETED because
shortly after initial boot-up, IF the navigation database is expired, the
SkyView displays a dialogue box stating that the database is expired … so the
pilot WILL know the database is expired as can be seen in the screenshot below.
A screenshot taken from the SkyView manual showing the expired database dialogue
box. The pilot WILL see this screen shortly after the SkyView initializes after
power up if the installed aviation database is expired … so there is no need to
manually check the expiration date as a standard checklist item.
The Fuel Computer is another window that may pop up shortly after the
SkyView boots up if the fuel level sensor differs from the fuel computer … as after
refueling the aircraft. Shown in the
screenshot below there are a few different ways the Fuel Computer can be
adjusted … so a mistake could be made if not careful. The pilot can either push
a Match button to match the readings, push a Full button to tell the Fuel Computer
the tank is full or push an Accept button to accept the current Fuel Computer
value after turning a knob to make a manual adjustment to the fuel quantity. As
such, a checklist entry was ADDED to bring up the Fuel Computer as a second
check to confirm the Current Fuel Computer Quantity is actually set to the
value the pilot has verified to be the correct amount of fuel onboard. [As a
side note, another reason I added the previously mentioned step is because of the
physical placement of the fuel level sending unit in the fuel tank and the
shape of the RV-12’s fuel tank … because of the placement and tank shape the fuel
level sending unit will not reflect accurate full tank readings. This is because the fuel sending unit’s float
arm hits its full position limit at approximately 16 gallons of fuel … this means
the additional 4 gallons of fuel the tank can hold will not register on the
digital fuel gauge displayed on the EMS (engine management system) screen. Fortunately,
there is the Moeller mechanical fuel gauge
on the top of the fuel tank which will show fuel levels in excess of 16 gallons
even though the displayed fuel level on the EMS page will only display 16 +
gallons until the fuel in the tank gets below that amount. Sure the float arm
in the tank could be adjusted to read higher tank fuel levels … but the
accuracy of fuel level readings at lower levels would suffer greatly … and
frankly, that is where a pilot needs the most accuracy].
Screenshot of the Fuel Computer window that will pop up shortly after
the Skyview is powered on if the Skyview senses a fuel level mismatch. In this
case, fuel was added to the tank just prior to powering up the SkyView. Note
the buttons available for Accept, Full and Match … plus the availability to
manually adjust the fuel computer quantity using a knob below where it says
Fuel on the bottom right of this SkyView screenshot. After this screenshot was
taken, I adjusted the Fuel Computer Quantity to 17.5 gallons to reflect the
actual amount of fuel in the tank … this can be seen in one of the screenshots
posted below.
Checklist revisions: In addition to
omitting checking the expiration date of the navigation database and adding the Fuel
Computer quantity verification check as mentioned above, a couple of other
minor changes were made to the Before Start and Shutdown checklists. The
revised Before Start checklist now assumes the Master Switch is already ON …
otherwise, the pilot wouldn’t be able to read the checklist on the SkyView in
the first place. As such, the opening of the fuel valve (and verification my added
fuel pump switch is ON) was moved near the top of the list. I feel this is
important for others using the checklists because the typical RV-12 has no fuel
pump switch … so when the Master Switch is switched ON, the fuel pump comes on along
with the SkyView. Having the fuel pump pumping with the fuel valve in the off position
is NOT good for longevity of the electric Facet fuel pump … hence, the reason for
checking the fuel valve is open is now the second item on the list. [Another
side note: Typically, I leave the fuel pump switch ON all the time (unless
planning on playing with the SkyView settings and menus for an extended period
of time) so I open the fuel valve pretty much the first thing after rolling the
airplane out of the hangar because it is easier to get a meaningful fuel sample
from the gascolator during the preflight inspection with the fuel valve open …
plus, when the Master Switch is flipped ON to power up the SkyView, the fuel
pump won’t be loudly banging away from all the excess back pressure]. Another
change made to the SkyView checklists was to the Shutdown checklist … which contained
a couple of steps regarding securing the aircraft listed after the Master
switch was turned off (kind of hard to read the SkyView checklist after
powering off the unit). As such, those steps were removed from the shutdown checklist
altogether because they are covered in the Pilot’s Operating Handbook, which
should be in the aircraft.
First impressions using
the checklists with the SkyView: All and all I really do like Dynon’s
implementation of the checklist feature. As mentioned in a previous post, to view
the checklists, the pilot presses the Tools button from the main menu to access
the Tools menu and then presses the Checklist button. This initially brings up the
Checklist titles window which lists all the checklist titles entered during the
checklist creation process. The pop-up checklist window has an X on the top
right that is used to close the pop-up checklist window entirely. Upon
selecting a checklist to view from the checklists titles window, the desired
checklist will be displayed in the checklist window ... where in addition to the X in
the top right of the window there is also a back arrow which navigates back to
the checklist titles window. The DOG Aviation SkyView is optioned to display
the navigation map on the far right frame on the SkyView display, so when the
checklist window overlays the navigation map it pops up on the right … this leaves the Primary Flight Display and Engine Monitoring System screens
visible as can be seen in the screen shot below.
As can be seen in this screenshot, after pressing the Checklist button in
the Tools menu the Checklist titles window pops up and overlays the map … displaying
all the available checklist titles. The window will scroll if there are more
titles than room to display them. Note
the X in the upper right corner of the window … this will close the checklist window
as will pressing the gray Checklist button.
One welcomed feature of Dynon’s checklist implementation is when a
checklist is being viewed, should the checklist window be closed to view the
map or navigate to some other SkyView menu, when the pilot returns to the Tools
menu to reopen the checklist, the last opened checklist will still be displayed.
The screenshots in the below example demonstrate how the SkyView remembers the current
checklist being viewed. As an example,
one step I added to the Before Start Checklist is to verify that the Fuel
Computer is actually set to the correct fuel amount ... since anything over 16 gallons is
displayed as 16+ gallons on the fuel level indicator on the EMS screen. In the
first screenshot below, one can see the Before Start checklist is open and I’ve
highlighted the entry for EMS Fuel Quantity just to show the position within the Before Start checklist. The second screenshot reflects closing
the checklist window (the map is now visible) and opening the Fuel
Computer window to verify the fuel quantity is actually set to 17.5 gallons. As
mentioned earlier, note how the EMS fuel gauge shows the fuel level at 16+
gallons even though the Fuel Computer's quantity is set for 17.5 gallons. The third screenshot demonstrates that after
closing the Fuel Computer window then returning to the Tools menu and pressing
the Checklist button … the SkyView displays the last checklist that was in use which,
in this example, was the Before Start checklist. Note the EMS Fuel Quantity entry is still
highlighted which is how it was before leaving the checklist menu to look at
the fuel computer.
Screenshot of the Before Start checklist. Here I’ve highlighted EMS Fuel
Quantity before closing the checklist menu altogether to demonstrate upon
returning to the checklists, the pilot will be returned to the previously
opened checklist and correct position within the checklist. Also note the return arrow in the upper left is used to navigate back to the checklist titles window if desired.
This screenshot was taken after checklist window was closed (one can see
the map now) and the Fuel Computer window was entered to verify the fuel
computer quantity. Note the fuel gauge on the EMS display shows 16+ gallons but
the current fuel computer quantity shows 17.5 gallons … 17.5 gallons is the
correct amount fuel onboard. Earlier, I adjusted the fuel computer after the
SkyView initialized and brought up the fuel computer window shown earlier in
this post with the mismatches highlighted in yellow.
This screenshot was taken after closing the fuel computer window, returning
to the Tools menu and pressing the Checklist button. Note the pilot is right
back to looking at the Before Start checklist that was last viewed and at the
same location within the checklist as evidenced by the EMS Fuel Quantity entry
still being highlighted.
As one can see from the above screenshots, closing the checklist window
while displaying a checklist will not require navigating back through the checklist title menu to reopen the checklist. When returning to the checklist by pressing the Checklist
button ... the checklist window will pop back up displaying the last checklist displayed at the time the window was closed along with the correct location within the checklist. I
find this feature particularly useful to que a checklist in advance so when the
checklist button is pressed, the desired checklist is already being displayed.
Nice!
Also feel there may be somewhat of an added safety benefit to
displaying the checklists on the SkyView. In my case, I was using a kneepad
with rings on it that had laminated checklist cards attached. While reading the
lists, my head would be looking down at my lap and nowhere near the outside …
but while using the checklists displayed on the SkyView screen, I found myself unconsciously glancing up
occasionally to look out the canopy.
Must say I really do like the SkyView checklist feature a lot and would
wholeheartedly suggest pilots who have not yet looked into this feature,
seriously consider doing so. Dynon’s implementation of displaying checklists on
the SkyView is truly an easy to use, pilot friendly feature … and being able to
que a checklist in advance … well, that’s just icing on an already good looking
cake.