Well, I wrote that assuming they were running through the checklists. Different story if no checklist was followed but he landed safely, but it’s something they’d be discussing in the wardroom the next week (and maybe issue a HAZREP if bad enough) rather than have it all over the press.
Now that I’ve read the full article (I’ve been missing the part about him not cracking his checklist), I can only assume one or two things: he thought the guys on the ground were running the checklist, or the particular symptoms he was seeing in the cockpit had no readily identifiable checklist. Otherwise, what the ex-naval aviator said was true–not going through a checklist is beyond imagination. We live and breathe checklists. Pilots have to know boldface steps off the top of their head. Just 'cause the guy was new to the -18, doesn’t mean he was a brand new pilot.