The checklist entered aviation after a prototype bomber crashed on a demonstration flight in 1935, killing the pilot. The aircraft was not defective and the pilot was among the most experienced in the service. It was simply complicated enough that a step could be missed under pressure, and one had been. Rather than demand more skill from pilots who already had plenty, the response was to write the steps down and require that they be read aloud and confirmed. The idea has since spread to surgery and construction, always against the same objection: that professionals should not need one.
The author includes the detail that the pilot was highly experienced in order to
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Correct answer to question 49 (Paragraph Comprehension): show that skill alone does not prevent the error
Method
The detail sets up the passage's argument, and the next sentences make it explicit: the response was not to demand more skill from pilots who already had plenty. It is there to answer the objection reported in the final line.
Updated: November 2026
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