The Bold Print

Many emergency checklist items should be reflexive and committed to memory. On the ground, you can roll your own, but never forget flying the airplane is first.

Tom Turner

Friday, October 19, 2012 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots must distinguish between critical, time-sensitive "memory items" (often bold-printed) on emergency checklists requiring immediate action, and less urgent steps that can be referenced.
It is crucial for pilots to identify or create their own "bold print" memory items for common-sense actions and emergency scenarios not explicitly covered by manufacturer checklists.
To ensure readiness under stress, pilots should actively memorize these critical steps through methods like flashcards and practice them regularly in the cockpit.

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Fishpot Turner!” yelled the voice at the front of the small classroom. Clad in an olive-drab U.S. Air Force flight suit, I sprang to attention from my chair behind a small table. I was one of about 20 pre-solo students in the USAF’s Flight Screening Program—Officer Training: FSPOT, pronounced “fishpot.” We were undergoing initial pilot qualification prior to commissioning as officers in the U.S. Air Force. Our aircraft was the T-41A Mescalero, off-the-shelf 1965 and 1967 model Cessna 172s in stars-and-bars paint flying out of Hondo, Texas.