Here's an acronym, you tell me a way to remember

[ROFCIBC]

Do you know all that's required to memorize on the MD-88/90?

Limitations (ie: Maximum zero fuel weight: 118,000 (88) and 130,000 (90))

And basic procedures like cabin depressurization ("Oxygen masks on 100%, establish communications").

Doug...

Do you mean they deleted the other eight pages of "memory limitations"? Gahhhh....

And I worked sooooooo hard to memorize them once a year!

I always preferred the basic BOLD PRINT aka memory items for the young pups...

STOP, THINK, COLLECT YOUR WITS

Or the corollary,

WIND THE CLOCK

Face it, and airplane flying along in flight will not suddenly drop out of the sky. Even a situation that requires and emergency descent isn't that bad. I mean, if it takes you, say 10 minutes to descend, what's 30 seconds of delay to just plain calm down so you can THINK?

Like an earlier posted said it's a matter of simply evaluating what's going on then, falling back on your knowledge and training to perform the correct procedures. There is no minimum time limit on what you do. Take your time, do it right, don't make it worse by rushing into something.

Or in the words of an old phart KC135 instructor,

"Son, you have a one out of four chance of shutting down the right engine and a three times greater chance of shutting down the wrong engine!"

Haste doesn't make waste, it makes bad things worse! (I think that's even in the NASCAR rule book!)

 

[ROFCIBC]

Also, UND does not teach mnemonic's when in the aircraft performing the emergency checklists. It's a flowpattern that has to be done almost automatically with minimal thinking. Adding a mnemonic into the picture adds stress and requirement to think too much, disabling the pilot from actually carrying out the procedure quick enough.

Mnemonic's are great for written tests though!

(emphasis added)

I have to disagree with that approach somewhat.

Maximum thinking is needed to make sure you do what you have to do right, the first time. I have seen, read about, heard discussed at bars, and read in accident reports about an event being made worse by a rushed response to an emergency. The "automatic" feature will kick in once the brain has decided what to do. That is a part of the training where you practice a maneuver or procedure over and over. You implant that in your mind.

The key is to make sure your mind recalls the proper implanted procedure. A rush to do something, anything, without taking time to "wind the clock" means the mind just might come up with an implanted procedure that is not appropriate because you called upon it to do what is the wrong thing.

But hey, that's just my opinion. But it got me through 39 years of aviation without having to explain to a board, or worse, to myself why I was in such a big hurry to do the wrong thing.

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

While going through training, we needed to memorize the procedures WORD FOR WORD, so I understand why his school wants him to memorize it verbatium (sp?) as well.

Ah, thanks for the explanation. Now I understand.

I was going to ask why the fuel pump comes on after the bank rather than before, but now I understand it's training for =memorization= and not really about flight procedures at all.

 

[derg]

True. Memory items can be non-sensical sometimes.

"Eek! We're filling full of smoke!"

"What do I do, what do I do...Can't touch the checklist yet, gotta remember *cough* from memory *cough*"

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

My argument is not with memory items. I'm only a lowly single engine piston GA pilot in which the engine fire in flight checklist comes down to "shut the fuel system, stop smoke from coming in, and get the heck down =now=!" but I realize that systems, get more complex, and that even in a simple system "shut the fuel and stop the smoke from coming in" can require different actions.

And that, once we realize what is going on, there are some immediate steps that need to be taken without picking up a piece of paper. We read plenty of NTSB reports about what happens when the pilot waits just a few seconds too long to lower the nose to keep the speed up when an engine failure takes place during departure.

I don't even really have a gripe with the =idea= of a short mnemonic as a way to remember something important.

My only gripe is with the idea that memorizing a nonsensical mnemonic for =everything= is helpful, and that, somehow, the mnemonic is more important than the procedure.

I do have a non-complaining-about mnemonic question though. I'm curious. What's the POH procedure for the emergency descent in this airplane? What is the emergency that it's supposed to be for? I ask because if it's a fire, then I don't think I want to put the mixture to rich and turn the fuel pump on. And, as I recall, the now-defunct Private PTS "emergency descent" also called for flaps and an airspeed in the flap operating range.

 

[FlySmiley]

One of the most dangerous situations in GA flying is an engine failure in a light twin right? How often do you see people teaching acronyms for the procedure? Does this sound familiar to anyone? MPTGFIVF?

When it counts for your life, straight memorization is the only way to go. Some procedures need to be rehearsed so many times that they come nauturally without the slightest bit of thought. For everything else there are checklists! Just take care of business!

So, if your flight school finds it so important that you memorize this procedure verbatim, then I suggest that you sit in the airplane without it running and practice until you dream the procedure in your sleep.

 

[ROFCIBC]

We read plenty of NTSB reports about what happens when the pilot waits just a few seconds too long to lower the nose to keep the speed up when an engine failure takes place during departure.

(emphasis added)

I would contend that falls into the first rule of flying,

FLY THE AIRPLANE!

Now this may sound goofy, but if the engine quits you still have to "fly the airplane". Yes, you have no power, yes you need to get some, or eventually you will come down to mother earth. But in all my aviation "flying the airplane" is not an emergency procedure, nor even an abnormal procedure. It has no memory items, nor even a checklist. It is basic pilot skill, pure and simple. That pilot skill used all the time, every time a pilot fly’s an airplane.