Airline pilots use checklists very frequently. There are checklists for various phases of a flight.
Before landing , the crew of Flight 401 did a check list. It involved interaction between the crew members. Part of the checklist concerned the lowering of the wheels. The wheels in aircraft are called "landing gear" or "gear" ( They don't mean the same as gears in a car!).
(for clarity , please ignore text colored GREY)
Flight Engineer: Continuous ignition. No smoke ( they are doing their landing check list ) Captain: Coming on Flight Engineer: Brake system Captain: Okay Flight Engineer: Radar Captain: Up, OFF Flight Engineer: Hydraulic panels checked (the hydraulic systems are functioning okay) Co-pilot: Thirty-five, thirty three Captain: Bert, is that handle in? xxxx ? * * * (not everything recorded by the cockpit voice recorder makes sense) Flight Engineer: Engine crossbleeds are open xxxx ? Gear down (wheels down)
The Flight Engineer sat behind the Co-pilot and faced an instrument panel on the right wall , similar to this one. Notice how many of the dials were replicated as the aircraft had multiple systems for safety. For an example, the Tristar aircraft had four hydraulic systems for safety.
Modern aircraft do not have flight engineers; their job been largely replaced by computers. (photo courtesy Ben Wang)
