As the phone rings in my cookie-cutter hotel room, I open my eyes to see the Las Vegas sun shining through a crack in the curtains. As I move to get out of bed on my third day of captain upgrade simulator training, I feel my sore leg muscles. The day before was the first day of V1 cuts; this is when the simulator instructor will fail an engine on rotation and the pilot flying is required to use a fair amount of rudder to counteract the yaw from the operating engine. As a result of the adrenaline suddenly being produced and the fact that I was using muscles in my leg I didn’t even know I had, I seem to always move a bit slower the next day.
My arrival here this morning started several months earlier, when I began to study the 100-plus MD-80 abnormal and emergency checklists for my upgrade training. I used these checklists to review the various systems and gain a better understanding in the simulator. While pulling apart the checklists, I thought back to my flight instructor days, when I would teach through the use of normal and emergency checklists.
I never wanted a student to blindly follow a checklist; rather, I wanted a student to fully understand a checklist and try to gain a better understanding of why we are moving switches in a certain order. I wanted them to think about when we move that switch—what are we doing in relation to that system?
Let’s look at a simple example involving one of today’s popular training aircraft, the Cessna 172SP. When teaching a student the electrical system, an instructor can give the student a scenario: During cruise flight, “Volts” illuminates on the annunciator panel. The instructor can begin to work through the problem with the student through a series of related system questions. What causes this to come on? The instructor and student then turn to the appropriate checklist, first item Avionics Master Switch…OFF. While looking at the electrical schematics, what does this switch do? What are we turning off and what items are on the associated buses?
As you work through the checklist, keep in mind different scenarios, such as: what if it’s night or instrument conditions? How is safety affected in different flight conditions when we are required to turn off certain items? There are many possibilities to teach and learn through aircraft checklists and the use of aircraft schematics. Furthermore, different scenarios can be used to think about what risks go along with the abnormal conditions.
Today a growing number of general aviation aircraft are equipped with glass cockpits and advanced avionics, and as a result, electrical systems are becoming more complex. Certification of these aircraft requires more redundancy of flight instruments, as well as backup power systems. This will add to the length of the checklist and complexity of the electrical system.
It is important to fully understand the checklist and related aircraft systems. Whenever you have a checklist, you can use it as both a teaching and learning tool. Teaching in this way will allow your student to tie all the elements of the system together. This level of knowledge will be sure to impress the examiner during a checkride—and your students will thank you as they move into more advanced aircraft.
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As the phone rings in my cookie-cutter hotel room, I open my eyes to see the Las Vegas sun shining through a crack in the curtains. As I move to get out of bed on my third day of captain upgrade simulator training, I feel my sore leg muscles. The day before was the first day of V1 cuts; this is when the simulator instructor will fail an engine on rotation and the pilot flying is required to use a fair amount of rudder to counteract the yaw from the operating engine. As a result of the adrenaline suddenly being produced and the fact that I was using muscles in my leg I didn’t even know I had, I seem to always move a bit slower the next day.
My arrival here this morning started several months earlier, when I began to study the 100-plus MD-80 abnormal and emergency checklists for my upgrade training. I used these checklists to review the various systems and gain a better understanding in the simulator. While pulling apart the checklists, I thought back to my flight instructor days, when I would teach through the use of normal and emergency checklists.
I never wanted a student to blindly follow a checklist; rather, I wanted a student to fully understand a checklist and try to gain a better understanding of why we are moving switches in a certain order. I wanted them to think about when we move that switch—what are we doing in relation to that system?
Let’s look at a simple example involving one of today’s popular training aircraft, the Cessna 172SP. When teaching a student the electrical system, an instructor can give the student a scenario: During cruise flight, “Volts” illuminates on the annunciator panel. The instructor can begin to work through the problem with the student through a series of related system questions. What causes this to come on? The instructor and student then turn to the appropriate checklist, first item Avionics Master Switch…OFF. While looking at the electrical schematics, what does this switch do? What are we turning off and what items are on the associated buses?
As you work through the checklist, keep in mind different scenarios, such as: what if it’s night or instrument conditions? How is safety affected in different flight conditions when we are required to turn off certain items? There are many possibilities to teach and learn through aircraft checklists and the use of aircraft schematics. Furthermore, different scenarios can be used to think about what risks go along with the abnormal conditions.
Today a growing number of general aviation aircraft are equipped with glass cockpits and advanced avionics, and as a result, electrical systems are becoming more complex. Certification of these aircraft requires more redundancy of flight instruments, as well as backup power systems. This will add to the length of the checklist and complexity of the electrical system.
It is important to fully understand the checklist and related aircraft systems. Whenever you have a checklist, you can use it as both a teaching and learning tool. Teaching in this way will allow your student to tie all the elements of the system together. This level of knowledge will be sure to impress the examiner during a checkride—and your students will thank you as they move into more advanced aircraft.
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