There are a ton of ways that checklists can fail. For instance, when an item is 2x instead of separate items for left and right. When items are done in a series instead of one at a time. When time constraints force a rush. When items aren't read aloud. When checklists aren't completed. When those responsible for completing the items aren't present for the checks. When no one is following behind double checking each item.
Also it is possible that the cover did not restrict air flow until the aircraft entered a cruise flight regime or a certain altitude. Often aircraft will have different intake bypasses for different flight regimes. However, a cover like this SHOULD have a pin and momentary switch similar to lockouts for flight controls. But if the cover was an afterthought, implemented by crews and not the engineers, that may not have been accounted for.
> Also it is possible that the cover did not restrict air flow until the aircraft entered a cruise flight regime or a certain altitude
Article states that the pilot attempted to abort takeoff, but ran out of runway on the ship. So, apparently the pilot knew something was wrong pretty soon after initiating takeoff.
Things can get complicated when checklists have if-else-branches and loops.
Anything that has a list of lists, and if-else-branches can be really hard to get right. You walk into one wrong branch due to human error, mistakes just multiply from there.
Also the worse thing is- you are confident that you are doing the right thing, while just making more mistakes.
Don't forget checklist and alarm fatigue. When an alarm goes off every 2 seconds "Check air intake" because of changes in atmospheric pressure etc... When a checklist is 200 items long and your commander is asking why you aren't in the air yet. Organizational failure, when every other pilot in the wing is waiting to taxi because they skimmed the checklist and you are still checking freeze plugs and fuel.
Anyone in charge of this sort of mission critical stuff has to be willing to take it on the chin to ensure safety. If top brass isn't willing to take "safety" as an excuse for a delay or cancellation it's just going to propagate down and cause an accident.
There is a whole science behind checklists like this. Surgeons have been learning this lesson for over a decade now: https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2015/08/04/checklist...
Also it is possible that the cover did not restrict air flow until the aircraft entered a cruise flight regime or a certain altitude. Often aircraft will have different intake bypasses for different flight regimes. However, a cover like this SHOULD have a pin and momentary switch similar to lockouts for flight controls. But if the cover was an afterthought, implemented by crews and not the engineers, that may not have been accounted for.