After 6 years in the US Navy on nuclear submarines, 35 years working in civilian nuclear power, being a licensed private pilot, and a expert in root cause analysis, to say I appreciate the positive impact the routine use of checklists has on human performance/safety would be, at least, a huge understatement. When things go wrong, it is almost always due to human error. And so, as a novice sUAV operator I too have of developed pre and post flight checklists. A copy is attached to this post.
It is clear to even my obsessively **** retentive mind that the pre/post flight checklists I developed may be massive overkill for casual backyard flights. However, I also recognize that the good habits reinforced by the routine use of checklists increases my margin of safety, and that additional margin could someday be the difference between a successful flight and something less. For me, this is an important consideration when I have $1000 or more in the air, and could be crucial to others on those occasions, should they ever arise, when failure is not an option.
Professional pilots the world over use checklists whenever they fly. That's good enough reason for me to do the same. It helps protect my investment, and who knows, some day it may help save somebody's life.
May your take off and safe landing tally always be equally divisible by 2!,