Training and Safety Tip: Sketch for mastery

The best way to get this pilot-level knowledge of aircraft systems is through pictures. But not by looking at images in the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, or by studying the engineering diagrams in your aircraft’s pilot’s operating handbook, or viewing amazing 3D moving graphics online. Not that I’m criticizing those three methods, but they are only steps on the road to systems knowledge mastery. No, you’ll need to break out a pencil and paper and draw your own pictures. Drawing a system by hand is the final, necessary, step for true understanding.

I have two rules when it comes to drawing pictures of systems. The first is, keep ‘em simple. Over the years I’ve found, contrary to what you might expect, that the better-drawn the system, the less well understood it is. I think the reason behind this is that if you strive for utter realism, your focus is misplaced. You are concentrating on details and minutiae. What is needed is a big-picture understanding of how things work and for that, sometimes, kindergarten art is best. So put away your aluminum engineering ruler, protractor, and mechanical pencil. Break out the crayons.

My second rule is to not use a solid line to represent a pipe. When drawing fuel lines, sketch them out as light-colored parallel lines—channels—to help you visualize how the fuel flows through the maze of tubes. Reserve solid dark lines for solid objects like push tubes or control cables. When it comes to wires, draw them, too, like fuel lines. Electrons flow just as surely as fuel molecules.

So, study pictures, then draw your own. Envision how fluids and power move through your drawings. Then you’ll be a master of systems from every day to emergency.