Narrative:

This event involved the chief pilot of [company]. Because of this I am just now submitting this report even though the event occurred several months ago. I had a flight where both the FMS and the acars were on MEL. These were not the type of MEL where part of the equipment is usable either. Both items were completely non-functional. This resulted in a much higher workload and a much longer preflight preparation period. Unfortunately we were coming from a previous flight and did not have the luxury of simply arriving at the aircraft early to complete the items on time. Instead; we arrived at the aircraft and began completing our preflight preparation quickly but thoroughly. I felt that it was particularly important to take our time and be thorough because this was an unusual situation which really throws off our rhythm and raises the likelihood of errors. In the end we were not able to complete everything prior to our departure time and incurred a delay. I sent a delay report explaining the reason for the delay. Several days later I received a call from [chief pilot] asking me why the flight was delayed. I explained the whole scenario and he stated that in the future I needed to close the door and release the parking brake and then finish the preflight preparation after that. I asked him 'so you're telling me that you want me to do the checklist items out of order?' and he replied with 'no; you just need to close the door and get a time.' I was not comfortable arguing with the chief pilot so I did not press the issue further but I greatly disagree with his stance on this.the FAA's says that checklists are to be accomplished completely and in order. There is a very good reason for this; as it keeps flights standard and helps crew members ensure that all items are completed and nothing is missed. When you start going out of order and skipping items in order to rush to get an on time departure you greatly increase the chances of making mistakes. On our checklist; closing the doors and releasing the parking brake are both on the start checklist to the line. [Chief pilot]'s requirement to skip ahead to these items means that you are accomplishing part of the start checklist to the line with many items on the before start and start checklist to the line incomplete. On the before start checklist; the MEL text would not be reviewed; the FMS/ACARS would not be checked and set; the navs/comms/transponder would not be set; takeoff data would not be set; the departure briefing would not be complete; the logbook and documents would not be checked; and the flight release would not be signed (as far as I am aware; we are not supposed to sign the release until all of these other items are complete). The weight and balance on the start checklist to the line would also not be complete. This checklist non-compliance would result in lowered safety. As the chief pilot; [chief pilot] has a particularly high responsibility to promote safety. When one of the highest pilot supervisors is requiring crew members to directly violate FAA procedures by completing checklists incorrectly; I view it as an extremely large red flag as to the status of the safety culture at [company]. I would expect this sort of behavior from a non-pilot; such as a ramp manager or scheduling coordinator; but not from a pilot. As a pilot [chief pilot] should know better and he should be setting a better example. We should not have a chief pilot who would so wantonly disregard safety and pressure a pilot to do unsafe actions. A company procedure should not be violated like this simply to achieve an on-time departure. I would have loved for this flight to have departed on-time but an on-time departure is never worth degrading safety. While having good on-time statistics may look good for [company]; an aircraft accident that occurs trying to achieve these statistics would look much worse than the positives gained from on-time performance.[chief pilot] should be removed from any and all management positions and he should be replaced with a pilot who actually is interested in safety. It should be reiterated to management that checklists are to be completed thoroughly and in the proper order; regardless of on-time performance. I would like my identity to remain anonymous so as to prevent retaliation from management.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ Captain reported a safety issue with Management after being told to prioritize on time departure over proper checklist execution.

Narrative: This event involved the Chief Pilot of [Company]. Because of this I am just now submitting this report even though the event occurred several months ago. I had a flight where both the FMS and the ACARs were on MEL. These were not the type of MEL where part of the equipment is usable either. Both items were completely non-functional. This resulted in a much higher workload and a much longer preflight preparation period. Unfortunately we were coming from a previous flight and did not have the luxury of simply arriving at the aircraft early to complete the items on time. Instead; we arrived at the aircraft and began completing our preflight preparation quickly but thoroughly. I felt that it was particularly important to take our time and be thorough because this was an unusual situation which really throws off our rhythm and raises the likelihood of errors. In the end we were not able to complete everything prior to our departure time and incurred a delay. I sent a delay report explaining the reason for the delay. Several days later I received a call from [Chief Pilot] asking me why the flight was delayed. I explained the whole scenario and he stated that in the future I needed to close the door and release the parking brake and then finish the preflight preparation after that. I asked him 'So you're telling me that you want me to do the checklist items out of order?' and he replied with 'No; you just need to close the door and get a time.' I was not comfortable arguing with the Chief Pilot so I did not press the issue further but I greatly disagree with his stance on this.The FAA's says that checklists are to be accomplished completely and in order. There is a very good reason for this; as it keeps flights standard and helps crew members ensure that all items are completed and nothing is missed. When you start going out of order and skipping items in order to rush to get an on time departure you greatly increase the chances of making mistakes. On our checklist; closing the doors and releasing the parking brake are both on the start checklist to the line. [Chief Pilot]'s requirement to skip ahead to these items means that you are accomplishing part of the start checklist to the line with many items on the before start and start checklist to the line incomplete. On the before start checklist; the MEL text would not be reviewed; the FMS/ACARS would not be checked and set; the navs/comms/transponder would not be set; takeoff data would not be set; the departure briefing would not be complete; the logbook and documents would not be checked; and the flight release would not be signed (as far as I am aware; we are not supposed to sign the release until all of these other items are complete). The weight and balance on the start checklist to the line would also not be complete. This checklist non-compliance would result in lowered safety. As the Chief Pilot; [Chief Pilot] has a particularly high responsibility to promote safety. When one of the highest pilot supervisors is requiring crew members to directly violate FAA procedures by completing checklists incorrectly; I view it as an EXTREMELY large red flag as to the status of the safety culture at [Company]. I would expect this sort of behavior from a non-pilot; such as a ramp manager or scheduling coordinator; but not from a pilot. As a pilot [Chief Pilot] should know better and he should be setting a better example. We should not have a Chief Pilot who would so wantonly disregard safety and pressure a pilot to do unsafe actions. A company procedure should not be violated like this simply to achieve an on-time departure. I would have loved for this flight to have departed on-time but an on-time departure is never worth degrading safety. While having good on-time statistics may look good for [Company]; an aircraft accident that occurs trying to achieve these statistics would look MUCH worse than the positives gained from on-time performance.[Chief Pilot] should be removed from any and all management positions and he should be replaced with a pilot who actually is interested in safety. It should be reiterated to management that checklists are to be completed thoroughly and in the proper order; regardless of on-time performance. I would like my identity to remain anonymous so as to prevent retaliation from management.

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.