B737 first officer reports his air carrier's before takeoff checklist is too long and beginning the ...

Attributes
ACN	1272385
Time
Date	201506
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	LAX.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 222
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

The before takeoff checklist is too long and is a distraction. I highlighted this flight because of the short taxi; but it happens almost every flight. Captains always wait until the last minute to call for the checklist; and it turns me into a rote reader; I have to fit in the checklist; talk to ATC; and make sure the captain is taxiing onto the right runway. The checklist almost always gets interrupted by ATC. I will make a mistake sometime in the future because of the recent changes to this checklist. I will either miss an item on the checklist; or I will miss an ATC instruction or I will accidentally allow a captain to taxi where we shouldn't be. It is inevitable because the too long before takeoff checklist takes my attention away from much more important tasks. Stop loading up first officer's with useless tasks. Shorten the checklist.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 First Officer reports his air carrier's Before Takeoff Checklist is too long and beginning the checklist late into the taxi flow means something is bound to be missed.

Narrative: The Before Takeoff Checklist is too long and is a distraction. I highlighted this flight because of the short taxi; but it happens almost every flight. Captains always wait until the last minute to call for the checklist; and it turns me into a rote reader; I have to fit in the checklist; talk to ATC; and make sure the Captain is taxiing onto the right runway. The checklist almost always gets interrupted by ATC. I will make a mistake sometime in the future because of the recent changes to this checklist. I will either miss an item on the checklist; or I will miss an ATC instruction or I will accidentally allow a Captain to taxi where we shouldn't be. It is inevitable because the too long Before Takeoff Checklist takes my attention away from much more important tasks. Stop loading up First Officer's with useless tasks. Shorten the checklist.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

B737 first officer reports his air carrier's before takeoff checklist is too long and beginning the checklist late into the taxi flow means something is bound to be missed.