On a sunlit Sunday morning in December 2021, Redcliffe, Australia, shimmered with Christmas cheer. Children darted along the pier while families lined up for ice cream, and boats bobbed lazily across the endless blue of Moreton Bay.

From the nearby airfield, a Rockwell Commander 114 lifted gracefully into the air. The sleek plane carried four people: a pilot who lived for the sky, and three passengers eager for one last adventure before Christmas. It was, by every measure, a perfect day.

Then came the stutter.

The engine coughed once. Then again. A sputter, a pause, then silence. Onlookers froze as the aircraft banked sharply, tilted, and plunged into the bay less than a kilometer offshore, shattering the calm with a violent splash.

Boats rushed toward the wreckage and sirens wailed in the distance, but it was too late. All four aboard had perished.

The shock rippled through the community. How could a flawless morning, and a routine flight, end like this?

When the investigation finally concluded in 2024, the findings were both heartbreaking and haunting. The engine hadn’t failed; it had simply run out of fuel. One tank was full, the other bone dry. The preflight checklist had been interrupted and never completed. As the Rockwell Commander thundered down the runway that morning, only the empty tank was selected to feed the engine.

THE FIRST PREFLIGHT CHECKLIST

Just as investigators dug into what went wrong that December morning, the history of aviation offers a crucial lesson: complex systems demand careful examination.

Before 1935, there was no such thing as a preflight checklist. That changed after the crash of a B-17 Flying Fortress, caused by a pilot who forgot to release the wind gust lock. The tragedy made one truth painfully clear: modern aircraft were too complex to rely on memory alone. In response, test pilots created the first preflight checklist, a simple but lifesaving routine requiring pilots to verbally confirm each critical step before takeoff. From that single, devastating mistake came one of aviation’s greatest safety innovations.

MARRIAGE NEEDS A PREFLIGHT CHECKLIST

According to a recent Forbes article, 43% of first marriages, 60% of second marriages, and 73% of third marriages end in divorce. On average, nearly half of all marriages in North America will crash sometime after takeoff. That’s one divorce every 42 seconds, 86 divorces every hour, 14,364 every week, and over three-quarters of a million per year in the U.S. alone. Wouldn’t it make sense to have a kind of preflight checklist for marriages?

The reality is, the preflight checklist for marriage already exists. It is called ‘vows’. Unfortunately, in many relationships, it’s slipped between the seats or been shoved into the glovebox. Sometimes, it’s framed behind glass and hanging on the wall, admired, but unused.

YOUR VOWS

When was the last time you read your marriage vows? It’s entirely possible that you spent a few days wordsmithing a beautiful commitment to your spouse. It’s entirely possible that you stood in front of a pastor or priest, your wedding party, your family, your friends, and God Himself, declaring your vows with passionate conviction, but then forgot about them.

Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, “When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for He takes no delight in fools. Fulfill whatever you have vowed.” But how can we fulfill what we have vowed if we don’t remember what vow we made? How can we fulfill our vows if we never review them? On the other hand, what would happen if we used our vows as a “preflight checklist”?

CHECK YOUR MARRIAGE AGAINST YOUR VOWS

These days, many couples choose to write their own vows. If you did, do you know where they are? Do you remember what you promised? Maybe it’s time to dig them out and use them as a kind of preflight checklist, a way to compare your current marriage commitments to the ones you made on your wedding day.

If you spoke some form of the traditional wedding vow to your spouse, use this preflight checklist as a reminder of what it takes to have a great flight.

 “I, (your name), take you, (spouse’s name), to be my husband/wife…

 my partner, and my best friend.

 I promise to love you,

 respect you,

 and stand by your side through all of life’s joys and challenges.

 I will celebrate your triumphs,

 comfort you in sorrow,

 and grow with you in love and faith.

 I vow to be faithful to you,

 in laughter and in tears,

 in sickness and in health,

 and in all the days that we are given together,

 till death do us part."

FUEL & SPARK

Q: If your marriage were a flight, what warning signs might indicate you’re running low on ‘fuel’ in your relationship?

Q: Looking at your partner’s current needs, what is one promise from your vows that you haven’t actively fulfilled lately, and how can you address it this week?

Q: How do you understand Solomon’s phrase, “…do not delay in fulfilling it, for He (God) takes no delight in fools”? Why does he call those who don’t fulfill vows “fools”?

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