The recent interest in using checklists to improve the quality of medical care derives, in part, from their success in aviation. Earlier in life, I had experience with checklists, and here is one vivid memory of that experience. It was a clear day over Phalsbourg Air Force Base in eastern France, many years ago. At the time, before deciding to go to medical school, I was a fighter pilot in the US Air Force there, flying F-86 Sabrejets with the 513th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. My practice mission was completed, and I flew my F-86 into the traffic pattern for a standard racetrack-shaped VFR (visual flight rules) jet fighter approach. Like all my fellow pilots, I followed a mental checklist for landing. I knew the drill by heart and can still remember it clearly all these years later: Enter the pattern at 1,500-feet altitude and an airspeed of 250 knots, lined up with the landing runway.
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