How Pilots Should Manage Squawk Lists

A squawk list is a deceptively simple thing: write down what's wrong with the airplane, communicate it to the next pilot and the A&P, close it when fixed. Most squawk lists fail at step two. The next pilot opens the airplane and finds out about the inop nav light during the runup.

1. What belongs on the list

• Anything inoperative or degraded that affects safety, dispatch, or flight rules.
• Anything intermittent: fuel-flow gauge that flickers, gear-up indicator slow to extinguish.
• Anything cosmetic that affects another pilot's preflight (e.g., a panel screw missing).

Don't put fuel state, oil quantity, or weather on the squawk list. Those are checklist items, not write-ups.

2. Make it visible at the next reservation

A squawk that lives in a chat thread is a squawk no one reads. The next pilot should see it without searching, at the moment they open the dispatch screen, alongside the fuel state and the next inspection due.