What to memorize?

Move into larger airplanes that require type-specific training (anything over 12,500 pounds or a jet), and hundreds more pages show up. Throw in an airline or corporate job, and you might be responsible for 10,000 pages of verbiage. In a pinch, you need to know exactly where to find a piece of information that might be so obscure you only use it once.

Some of this information we come to memorize is based on the kind of flying we do. Airspace design, traffic pattern rules, GPS buttonology, and thousands of other tidbits get ingrained in our minds or muscle memory. And sometimes, we find what we think we have mastered has been forgotten or grown fuzzy.

This brings me to the concept of memorizing checklists, especially in an emergency. The wisdom, benefit, and value of memorizing checklists has been debated since the earliest days of aviation. Emergency procedures, immediate action items, abnormal, non-normal—all are terms various manufacturers, schools, and government agencies have accepted for dealing with a situation that is outside the bounds of normal.

How many of these do we try to memorize, and how many should we try to memorize? In the general aviation world, we are taught to commit some items to memory early on, such as best glide speed for an engine failure, or steps to try to overcome an engine failure. We also memorize symptoms of a larger problem. For example, scratchy radios, dimmed displays, and flickering lights may be a sign of pending electrical failure.

But even a simple GA airplane may have a dozen or so emergency procedures. How much you fly has a great deal of impact on how well you might respond to a given situation. A CFI who teaches every day is going to be far more prepared for something abnormal than a private pilot who only flies once every few weeks or months. I don’t come anywhere close to flying my Piper Arrow as much as I’d like, but as a professional pilot I have the advantage of a certain amount of crossover from jet flying to piston aircraft flying.

In a crewed airplane, workload can be split up, and one pilot can be in charge of flying the airplane while the other is responsible for troubleshooting and running the appropriate checklist. A second engine can also keep you airborne if one should fail, and at the very least, might buy you some time. But in a single-pilot scenario, you have to take into account one person doing everything.

First, no matter what, aviate. Fly the airplane. Don’t let the airplane fly you. In a single-engine airplane, the two worst scenarios are an engine failure and a fire. Assuming the fire is forward of the firewall, both will require similar first steps: Trim for best glide, and minimize the risk of things getting worse.

A simple flow pattern here can be better than trying to memorize actual words or procedures. Shut off fuel (if there is a fire), try a different source of fuel if the engine has quit, check the mixture and carb heat (where applicable), and verify that the ignition is on or on a working mag. If the engine is clearly a lost cause (or a fire is really a fire), go through the same flow and start turning off whatever you can. Shut off fuel flow, turn off the ignition switch, power down any electrics you don’t need right away (lights, for example). In the event of a fire, shut off everything, including the battery. If the engine has failed, use the radio to broadcast your situation to air traffic control or nearby aircraft.

At this point, altitude and time permitting, pull out any checklists or procedures and calmly start working through the options. Odds are, there won’t be many.

While you’re doing all of this—by yourself—you need to navigate. Assuming you are in VFR conditions, start looking for a place to land. The lower you get, the more this needs to be a priority. By 1,000 to 1,500 feet, your focus needs to be on making the safest landing you can, and all of your attention needs to be to be outside and away from any checklists. Crack a door, and if the battery is still on, be prepared to turn it off after extending the final flaps and/or gear.

Note that very little is “memorized” here, and for good reason. The brain is incredibly complex, and there is no way to know how yours will react to a severe situation. While training helps, as does practice, the reality is that when you know something is a practice scenario, that “out” is always in the back of your mind. Airlines and corporate flight departments have come to recognize this, and some have eliminated all memorized procedures. Instead, a quick reference card is immediately available to the pilot(s) to guide the initial shock and awe of an emergency.

For my airplane, I—like many pilots—devised my own checklist to complement the one from the manufacturer. I have color-coded pages for different sections, and the emergency items stand out and are easy to find. A simple flow pattern will cover the major items, and the appropriate checklists will be my guide through the rest. My biggest help when available, though, will be the autopilot. Once the first 30 seconds or so have passed, and the first steps have been taken and the full impact of what has happened has settled in, I can begin to cope.

The last adage to remember is to communicate. Yes, talk with ATC (time permitting). Talk with your passengers. Talk with (and to) yourself. Verbalize what is going on. Talking will slow you down, and it can guide your attention as you speak and seek to grasp all the information. Assure yourself that you can handle this, and that you are diagnosing the issue(s) correctly.

Memorizing procedures is great in the academic sense. It isn’t always the best way to function in the real world, especially if you fly multiple aircraft types. But some things lend themselves to “memory” or a flow procedure. Best glide speed? Know it cold. Shutting down an engine in flight? Yes, but verify it with a checklist if time permits. Outside of an engine failure or a fire at a low altitude, you should have time on your hands. A running engine will keep you airborne for as long as the fuel lasts, and stable flight is not just a goal, but a tool, so use it. Anything that is predicated on having power and airspeed isn’t necessarily something you need to commit to memory.