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:

Emergency procedures distinguish between time-critical "bold print" memory items, which require immediate action, and less urgent checklist steps that can be referenced later.
Pilot Operating Handbooks (POHs) often lack "common sense" memory items or procedures for non-system emergencies, requiring pilots to develop and internalize their own custom checklists.
Effective emergency preparedness involves deep system knowledge, rote memorization using flashcards, and practical, hands-on cockpit drills to master critical memory items under stress.

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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.