Electronic Checklists

Each livery can ship its own Electronic Checklist (ECL) package, built and exported from Synaptic's checklist editor tool. This page covers importing and exporting checklist files, how checklists are organized in the editor, and the different item types available when building a checklist.

Open the checklist editor ↗

Import & export

The editor works with two levels of JSON file:

• Package — the whole database: its name, an optional part number, and every checklist across all three categories (Normal, Non-Normal, Procedure).
• Checklist — a single checklist and its items. A checklist file has no category of its own — that's contextual to where it lives in a package — so on import it's always placed into the Normal category first; drag it into a Non-Normal system or Procedure section afterward if that's where it belongs.

Use the Export button (top right) to export the current package or just the currently-open checklist. Use Import (bottom of the sidebar) to load a package file, or one or more checklist files at once — each file is validated independently, so one bad file won't block the rest from importing.

A few things worth knowing about the file format:

• Defer / Follow-on references (see Action) are written to disk by the target checklist's name, not an internal id, so they survive round-tripping through export/import as long as the checklist names match. If a referenced checklist can't be found after import, the editor flags it with a warning rather than failing silently.
• CAS messages and sensed variables are written by name where possible, falling back to a raw numeric id for values the editor doesn't recognize — so hand-editing exported JSON is reasonably safe as long as you stick to the documented names.
• Importing a malformed file shows a validation error describing what's wrong instead of silently corrupting your package.

Organization

A package (database) has a name, an optional part number, and three categories:

The sidebar tree mirrors this structure. Each category header has a + to add a checklist (or a system/section, for Non-Normal and Procedure), and the search box at the top filters the whole tree by checklist name.

Checklists and sections can be dragged (via the ⋮⋮ handle) to reorder them, or dropped into a different system/section/category to move them — including across categories. Deleting a checklist, section, or database that still has content prompts for confirmation first.

The editor can hold more than one package open at once (each gets its own root in the sidebar tree), which is convenient for referencing another package while building a new one.

Item types

Items are added between existing rows via the + control, which lists all six types below. Numbering is sequential and continues into branches (a Conditional or Multi-Select item's branches pick up numbering where the parent left off).

Action

The core checklist line: a challenge and response, separated by leader dots. This is what most checklist items are.

• Comment — a free-form note attached to the item for the checklist author, not rendered as its own line.

Sensed

Links the item to a simulator variable so it can be automatically detected as complete, instead of relying on the pilot to manually check it off. Enabling it reveals a variable picker plus two more toggles:

• Invert — flips the sensed condition, so the item is satisfied when the variable is false instead of true.
• Latch — once sensed, stays satisfied even if the underlying condition later clears (rather than reverting to unchecked).

Timed

Adds a countdown timer, in seconds, to the item — useful for steps that require waiting a fixed duration before continuing.

Limitation

Flags the item as an operating limitation rather than a normal action step, which changes how it's presented to the pilot.

Deferred

Links this item to another checklist, in one of two directions:

• Defer — this item hands off to another checklist that must be completed first before continuing.
• Follow-on — once this item is done, automatically continue into another checklist.

Both are set from a picker listing the other checklists in the same package. If a linked checklist can't be found (for example, after importing a single checklist file without the checklist it depends on), the flag is shown with a warning instead of silently pointing nowhere.

Conditional

A branching item: one challenge with two independent item lists, YES and NO. Either branch can contain any item type, including another Conditional, and each branch is reordered independently. A copy button on either branch's label duplicates its items into the other branch as a starting point.

Multi-select

Like Conditional, but with any number of named options instead of a fixed YES/NO — useful for challenges with more than two possible responses. Options can be added, renamed inline, and deleted (at least one must remain), and each option's items can be copied to the others the same way branches can on a Conditional item.

Free text

A single line of freeform text with no challenge/response split — for instructions, headers, or context that isn't an actionable step. Supports the same Defer / Follow-on links as Action items.

Note

A callout line with a severity level — Note, Caution, or Warning — color-coded to match the sim's CAS message palette. Also supports Defer / Follow-on.

Page break

Forces a page break in the printed/paginated checklist layout. It has no fields of its own — just a marker in the item list.