Air carrier captain describes an incident where his first officer is momentarily blinded by sun ligh...

Attributes
ACN	964960
Time
Date	201108
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	HCF.TRACON
State Reference	HI
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Vectors
Component
Aircraft Component	Checklists
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250 Flight Crew Total 19000 Flight Crew Type 7500
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

Narrative:

As we were being vectored; we ultimately took up a heading which put the sun at the five o'clock position in relation to the aircraft. Suddenly; the first officer took both hands off the controls; shields his eyes; and says; 'oh crap. Whoa; whoa; whoa. I can't see.' he told me the sun was reflecting off of the checklist recently affixed to the sliding map holder. I then relayed to him that I encountered the same issue a few weeks earlier on my flight to london. He covered up the checklist with a piece of paper and took over the controls of the aircraft. As I said in my last report regarding this new checklist; it is obvious no human-factors study was done on it. It is a dangerous distraction and can almost be compared to a laser encounter when the sun is in the right position.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier Captain describes an incident where his First Officer is momentarily blinded by sun light being reflected of a checklist recently affixed to the sliding map holder.

Narrative: As we were being vectored; we ultimately took up a heading which put the sun at the five o'clock position in relation to the aircraft. Suddenly; the First Officer took both hands off the controls; shields his eyes; and says; 'Oh crap. Whoa; whoa; whoa. I can't see.' He told me the sun was reflecting off of the checklist recently affixed to the sliding map holder. I then relayed to him that I encountered the same issue a few weeks earlier on my flight to London. He covered up the checklist with a piece of paper and took over the controls of the aircraft. As I said in my last report regarding this new checklist; it is obvious no human-factors study was done on it. It is a dangerous distraction and can almost be compared to a laser encounter when the sun is in the right position.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Air carrier captain describes an incident where his first officer is momentarily blinded by sun light being reflected of a checklist recently affixed to the sliding map holder.