Pre-Flight Checks

A short summary of complacency that ended in the fiery deaths of all aboard.  This type of story really hammers home why we use the checklists.  Such a simply thing that is so deadly.

The flight crew of a Gulfstream G-IV business jet that crashed on takeoff from Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts, last year failed to perform a flight control check, resulting in critical controls still being locked during the takeoff attempt, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

I occasionally have had a brain fart on the checklists.  Just a few flights ago I was rolling down the runway before I realized I hadn't latched the door shut.  I reached over and latched it while on the takeoff roll - which was particularly stupid.   I should have performed the checklist before telling tower I was ready and once I realized I hadn't I should have aborted the takeoff.