This weeks great question comes from Gary another friend over at Twitter/winter717. Gary’s question, although I could have answered, “Yes!” to it, is better left to the expertise of an Airline Pilot.

I am lucky enough to know a few pilots and we have a wonderful guest this week, Air Canada’s Captain Doug Morris who has agreed to answer Gary’s question. Captain Morris flies the Airbus 320, has over 16,000 hours of flying and is a certified meteorologist. He also wrote a book, From the Flight Deck , is a contributor to enRoute magazine and has his own blog, From the Flight Deck.

Gary: “Before take off, do pilots have the ability to see if the ground crew missed something that could affect planes on take off?” “I always fear on takeoff that something may have been overlooked, but are there computerized alerts for vital items?”

Captain Doug: Pilots must adhere to checklists and rigid standard operating procedures. Some of the many checklists completed before each flight are: ‘before start’, ‘after start’ and ‘before take off’. Each checklist is challenge and response meaning the first officer (co-pilot) reads the checklist whereby the captain ensures switches and selections are in the appropriate position. Few things are done by memory. All modern airliners depict cargo and cabin door positions and will activate a warning if anything crucial is overlooked for take off. On the Airbus I fly we perform a “configuration test” by pushing a button just before take off ensuring all doors are closed and everything is set for take off such as flaps and flight controls. The last item performed is to turn on the landing lights when take off clearance is received signifying the “before take off checks are complete.”

I hope that answers your question Gary! I’m always looking for questions for my Wednesday post, you can leave a comment, find me at twitter, or e-mail me @ [email protected]

(post pic courtesy of Corsarz’s photostream)