Acronyms and Mnemonics

Meh, I think it's kind of useful to know right off the bat that the airplane is unairworthy with no tach. Though in reality, especially with glass cockpits, more and more of it comes down to the KOEL. Did you know that you can't legally fly a 172R G1000 IFR without a transponder (regardless of the FARs that govern transponder requirements)?
 
True Virgins Make Dull Company

True ... Variation ... Magnetic ... Deviation ... Course

Ah, for the good old days before the politically correct police took over.
 
Mnemonics for things such as required VFR equipment are worthless, and actually can lead someone into trouble. If a pilot wants to know if it is legal to fly with an inoperative piece of equipment they need to open their copy of the FARs to 91.213, Inoperative Instruments and Equipment, and proceed from there. I'm amazed at how many pilots will rattle off TOMATOFLAMES but have never heard of an Equipment List or a Kinds of Operations List. As an example, on a newer 172 can you fly with an inoperative annunciator light? On an carburated engine airplane can you fly with an inoperative carb heat? (Without a ferry permit). Hmm... neither of these are listed in TOMATOFLAMES- so it must be legal.
 
Sure, if you lead people to believe that TOMATO FLAMES et al, or even 91.205 is all that there is, then that can lead to a problem. However, I still maintain that the acronyms are a handy way to rule out "duh" items. Then if it comes down to the taxi light, #2 GIA, PFD, or flaps up indicator light, bust out that KOEL. Whether they should REALLY be required on checkrides...
 
Blackhawk said:
Mnemonics for things such as required VFR equipment are worthless, and actually can lead someone into trouble. If a pilot wants to know if it is legal to fly with an inoperative piece of equipment they need to open their copy of the FARs to 91.213, Inoperative Instruments and Equipment, and proceed from there. I'm amazed at how many pilots will rattle off TOMATOFLAMES but have never heard of an Equipment List or a Kinds of Operations List. As an example, on a newer 172 can you fly with an inoperative annunciator light? On an carburated engine airplane can you fly with an inoperative carb heat? (Without a ferry permit). Hmm... neither of these are listed in TOMATOFLAMES- so it must be legal.
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TOMATOFLAMES isn't supposed to be the end of the inoperative equipment lesson. I agree with Roger, Roger that it is useful to know instantly if I need to go digging through the Equipment List or not.

But knowing how to use the FAR/AIM is much more useful than dozens of random mnemonics and acronyms.
 
Blackhawk said:
Mnemonics for things such as required VFR equipment are worthless, and actually can lead someone into trouble. If a pilot wants to know if it is legal to fly with an inoperative piece of equipment they need to open their copy of the FARs to 91.213, Inoperative Instruments and Equipment, and proceed from there. I'm amazed at how many pilots will rattle off TOMATOFLAMES but have never heard of an Equipment List or a Kinds of Operations List. As an example, on a newer 172 can you fly with an inoperative annunciator light? On an carburated engine airplane can you fly with an inoperative carb heat? (Without a ferry permit). Hmm... neither of these are listed in TOMATOFLAMES- so it must be legal.
Click to expand...

I agree. 91.213, MEL's and the list of equipment that is 'S,' 'R,' and 'O.' Did you know that you can fly a 172 w/out a spinner? The Mnemonics are important, but it's only one part of the equation. ALL OF IT MUST BE TOUGHT. When I worked at AF, half the instructors didn't even know what an MEL was (whiskey tango foxtrot 141 schools?), or what 91.213 is.
 
mshunter said:
half the instructors didn't even know what an MEL was (whiskey tango foxtrot 141 schools?), or what 91.213 is.
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Granted, a real MEL is not something most of us will encounter until our first 135/121 job. The KOEL is a different concept entirely than the MEL.
 
Roger said:
Granted, a real MEL is not something most of us will encounter until our first 135/121 job. The KOEL is a different concept entirely than the MEL.
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Yes, I don't think it would be worth it for private/pleasure part 91 ops, but when you are teaaching commercial pilots, and the person teaching them has no idea what an MEL is, I smell a problem.
 
Haha, true...I'm guessing that's not the only subject they were clueless on, either...
 
Note- it was not a mistake when I wrote "equipment list", not Minimum Equipment List. Two different items. A GA pilot will probably never see a MEL, but should probably know what one is. A GA pilot will probably see an equipment list on a regular basis, and had BETTER know how to use it, along with a kinds of operations list- even if his/her current airplane does not have one. "My CFI did not teach me that", does not fly when being ramp checked as a private pilot.
Also, 91.205 (TOMATOFLAMES), should not even be a start to the process a pilot uses to determine the legality of flying with an inoperative instrument/equipment. 91.213 will eventually lead one to 91.205 as part of the process, but I've seen too many pilots who thought 91.205 was the beginning and the end of the process.
Teaching the above normally involves something called... "ground instruction", a little known and rare phenomenon among CFIs.
BTW- a free beer to the first one who tells me where it is written that a 172 is required to have carb heat. Hint- it's not in the POH. (At least none of the ones I have seen). Flying with inoperative carb heat has resulted in at least one legal decision that I am aware of against a pilot who knowingly flew with it inoperative after being told by a mechanic that it was not required.
 
My two favorite military-taught memory aids that apply to civi flying:

Preflight requirements - WANTS

W -Weather
A - Activate Flightplan
N - NOTAMS
T - TOLD
S - Review SID


Pre-approach - WHOLDS

W - Weather
H - Heading and attitude systems
O - Obtain approach clearance
L - Letdown (approach) plate review
D - Descent Check
S - Speeds (compute final app speed)
 
Blackhawk said:
I've never had a CFI get this one right. Of course, the recipient has to make it to ELP to collect.
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I'm guessing it is in part 23 or 33, under certification of aircraft or engines. I'm fairly sure that I remember reading in one of my A&P classes that a carbureted engine must have carb heat that can raise the temperature x number of degrees (for a normally aspirated engine I want to say it's 90 degrees).

*edit* Ha! 14 CFR 23.1093
(a) Reciprocating engines. Each reciprocating engine air induction system must have means to prevent and eliminate icing. Unless this is done by other means, it must be shown that, in air free of visible moisture at a temperature of 30 °F—
(1) Each airplane with sea level engines using conventional venturi carburetors has a preheater that can provide a heat rise of 90 °F. with the engines at 75 percent of maximum continuous power;
 
Roger said:
Sure, if you lead people to believe that TOMATO FLAMES et al, or even 91.205 is all that there is, then that can lead to a problem..
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The problem is that my informal surveying suggests that most people are indeed led to believe that 91.205 is all there is. That's the problem with elevating 91.205 to special status bu forcing it to be memorized.

Over the past, oh, 10 years or so, I've periodically posted a simple question in various pilot forums asking about the airworthiness of an airplane with a specific piece of equipment missing that is not covered by 91.205. I also include an inop equipment question when I do flight reviews, and even checkouts for people I haven't flown with.

The result has been that those who learned the burning fruit or disturbed cat mnemonics are more likely to get the question wrong than those who never even heard of it. I've even seen CFIs get it wrong.

To the original question, the only two mnemonics I will even refer to in teaching as being somewhat useful for some people are GUMP (the original, no extra letters) for complex aircraft and the 5-Ts (not 6 or 7 or 22) during instrument training.
 
factors affecting Vmc SMACMUF- if you smack the wrong muf, you get an std (the first item)

STD - standard day conditions.
M
A
C
M
U
F
 
According to my former FAA POI, multiple examiners, and the Orlando FSDO a pilot will bust his PPL oral if he even says "ATOMATOFLAMES" or something similar.


I always just prefer to teach students how to interpret the FARs than rattle off some acronym that isn't good for anything other than a game of aviation trivia.
 
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