what triggers before take off checklist?

[eurowing 65]

hi,

not always but sometimes when i arrive at the holding point for a runway sometimes the checklist is stuck (at taxi checks) and does not go to before take off checks. what triggers the before take off checks? is there a way to manually get it to start?

[KyleD 1027]

Hi Denis,

Before takeoff should be able to be manually started. On the Right MCDU on the checklist page it should be orange. If it is not orange, and you cannot click it (it's grey), then it might be something else.

If it only stays grey, is your taxi checklist finished? Is it hung on a specific item? If it is finished, how close approximately were you to the runway during loading? (I ask because I have sometimes seen that this can be an issue.

[eurowing 65]

hey Kyle,

the taxi checklist is still green and hence the before take off checklist is grey.

there is no advisory text that you normally get when an item is called, so i assume the taxi checks are completed. i also think that it would be orange on the mcdu otherwise. or is it only orange before it's even started?

i am pretty sure that it also happens when i start at the gate. it seems the before take off checks never start if i begin a flight at the active (even though i get the taxi checks completed).

i am quite curious as to what actually gets the before take off checks activated. is it approaching the runway? do you have to set the parking brake? do you have to hold short at full lenght or does it work with intersection departures? i am struggling a bit here LOL

it would sure be nice to have a manual trigger for it.

[KyleD 1027]

It sounds like the taxi checklist is still active, which means it would be green. Orange signifies the next checklist to be activated.The triggers for the ability to activate it manually should be the completion of the taxi checklist, and then also there should be a distance countdown to the holding point of the runway you selected in the MCDU for takeoff, which at the holding point should trigger the checklist as well. The catch is that it already is implemented that you can start this checklist manually, but if you get hung on the previous checklist, then you can't.

Do you hear the checklist function call out "Takeoff Memo" "Check, no blue" and then "Checklist complete"? (that's the last lines of the taxi checklist.) How about load state? Are you using a default load state or selecting one? And I hate to ask, but does it work smoothly on the Step by Step tutorial?

[eurowing 65]

makes sense.

i will have to pay close attention to the checklist items. i will test tomorrow if i get the chance.

yes i start cold and dark. and yes, step by step went fine, too (only done that EDDF-LOWW flight once, though).

but as i said, i will listen for that last checklist item and see what happens. thanks for now, i will report back.

[eurowing 65]

hello again,

i just left KLAX where i started cold and dark at the gate.

during the taxi (short one from terminal 1 to 24L) i got to the brake checks, at which point i applied the brakes briefely and the message to apply brakes disappeared. then... nothing. i hit the brakes some more, i stopped short of the runway, taxi checklist showing green, but it did not progress from there. no before take off checks.

not sure why but i also in this case did not get cockpit preparation or before engine start checks. the checks started after engine start.

is there anything i should do differently when checking brakes? do i have to give full brakes or even come to a complete stop??

[KyleD 1027]

It sounds like you are doing it correctly, but a few things catch my attention:

1) Were you able to start the Cockpit Preparation checklist? (Was it at least orange, or just grey the whole time?)

2) The fact they started after engine start was actually a good thing in a way, in that they still moved along and continued working, but that issue stems from 1.

3) As for the brake check, it does take a certain amount of pressure to trigger the brake check to complete. The way to tell for sure is the sound the brakes make. If you tap them quickly, you'll hear a light sound, but if you press and hold them, you'll hear that light sound and then a deeper braking sound. You can't miss it if you know what I'm referring to. Either way, you definitely don't need to come to a complete stop. With idle power, the brake check should only cost you a knot or two of groundspeed. The fact that you stopped at the runway holdshort line signifies you definitely should have completed that task.

Did the F/O woman keep repeating "Brake check"?

[eurowing 65]

1) negative, it was grey.

3) i did what you describe, lose a few knots by tapping on the brakes and maintaing that pressure for a couple of seconds. she did not repeat to check brakes.

funny thing is, after take off the climb checks etc. were done and the before take off checks were actually started after i landed and vacated the runway at KPHX.

[Hanse 216]

Hi,

1. what I do not get is that the "Cockpit Preparation CL" is grey. Then how did you proceed i. e. how were you able to start the other CL like "Taxi" to make the "break check"?
   
2. Did you follow exactly the Vol6 Stepby Step guide and at which item (#) you experienced what problems
   

Hanse

[eurowing 65]

1) the "other" checklists started automatically after i started the engines.

2) on this particular flight i am not so sure i did that. but my concern is not so much the cockpit prep in this instance but more so the question why it did not go past the brake checks on the taxi checks...

edit: i just found another post in this forum about the same issue (brake check) where the rudder pedals might be the issue. i will recalibrate them and fiddle around with some settings if necessary to see if that helps. it actually does seem sometimes that one of my brake pedals is quite touchy. is it actually possible that some light brake pressure is applied when my foot is off and there is no brakes message shown by FSX?

edit2: i just did that and the checklist continues at it should and i can even start the before take off checks at my discretion. beautiful!! this may fix the problem altogether because i think the actual issue was that the checks were stuck at the brake checks because somehow my pedal did not completely release the pressure. and i think what the real problem was is that i had too big a null zone for my brake pedals. i moved them to zero which is where it should be for that axis anyways because the null zone is in the middle and not when the pedal is released....

thanks everyone for the help!

[KyleD 1027]

Glad to hear it seems to be resolved, I'll mark this one as solved. Come back and let us know if it's not.