Memory aids
As pilots there are a lot of things we need to remember to do things correctly. Many of us come up with memory aids to help it stick better. The old saying “If a stupid trick works, it’s not stupid” is especially applicable with many of these.
One thing that I've learned for myself is that any mnemonic needs to have the key nouns in it for me to store and retrieve it. If the initial is based on an adjective that is not critical to the meaning of the sentence, I won't remember it. I redid a bunch of CFI FOI mnemonics based on that approach. The best example is the one for factors that affect Vmca: someone told me about SMACFUM, which has a handful of them (e.g. "Most unfavorable weight"). I still forget it after teaching over a dozen CMEL and MEI students. Instead, I came up with MAD B WED (the "M" stands for "Mass"), which stuck. If this also applies to you, rewrite non-memorable memory aids or make up new ones.
When I went through my E175 initial, I made up a whole list of memory aids for that airplane, and some classmates started the legend that “His dad made up A TOMATO FLAMES.” Those are all proprietary, so unless we work together I’m afraid I’m not allowed to share those, though I did send them to my Procedures instructors who were on the hunt for new ones because some flows were modified just prior to my arrival.
Below is a list of memory aids that I have found useful in my career.
One thing that I've learned for myself is that any mnemonic needs to have the key nouns in it for me to store and retrieve it. If the initial is based on an adjective that is not critical to the meaning of the sentence, I won't remember it. I redid a bunch of CFI FOI mnemonics based on that approach. The best example is the one for factors that affect Vmca: someone told me about SMACFUM, which has a handful of them (e.g. "Most unfavorable weight"). I still forget it after teaching over a dozen CMEL and MEI students. Instead, I came up with MAD B WED (the "M" stands for "Mass"), which stuck. If this also applies to you, rewrite non-memorable memory aids or make up new ones.
When I went through my E175 initial, I made up a whole list of memory aids for that airplane, and some classmates started the legend that “His dad made up A TOMATO FLAMES.” Those are all proprietary, so unless we work together I’m afraid I’m not allowed to share those, though I did send them to my Procedures instructors who were on the hunt for new ones because some flows were modified just prior to my arrival.
Below is a list of memory aids that I have found useful in my career.
List of memory aids
- 2 up to 3, so the Mounties don’t chase me: jingle to set up the box in Canadian airspace.
- 88, keep it straight...: a poem to remember your engine-out flow in the Seminole.
- ATACK PICS: inoperative equipment airworthiness mnemonic.
- BARF: how to check your G1000 setup
- CAPES: how to know you're stable on final.
- CREACS: your pre-maneuver checklist.
- EKPEE: what you need to do to for a given pilot certificate.
- GS over 3 DME, puts you where you want to be: rule for turning in from a DME arc.
- Hot gas boils, pack it, spin it: weather theory bundled into 5 simple rules.
- LLAPT: level-offs made simple.
- MAD B WED: remember your VMCa factors.
- PAST: how to get your GA approach requests in quickly.
- Wing for wind, step on stripes: jingle for wing-low crosswinds.
- Wings level, tread on target: stay on extended centerline in the upwind.