B2N2 thanks for the compliments, however I guess I did not clearly explain my underlying thought process.
So let me try to put it in its simplest form.
I teach "all" my students no matter at what level from their first flight to the most experienced among us a very simple mantra....
Always plan and visualize ahead of the airplane.
No matter what happens be it a sudden stoppage of an engine, a rough engine, a control problem or anything abnormal.....do not do anything until you identify exactly what will best fix the problem... that is why I am not a firm believer in just snapping into rote learned physical actions until there is an intellectual game plan to go with it.
Airplanes in motion have inertia, always ensure that the inertia is vectored in the path which you want the airplane to go in. When something very catastrophic ( to your senses ) goes wrong let inertia drive the airplane in the vector that you have put it in and take a brief few seconds to analize what to do...then go through the actions.
Try something just for the hell of it, at a safe altitude put your airplane in a situation, say just established in the climb and at the recomended climb speed and fail the engine, closely moniter how many seconds you have before airspeed decays to a critical number.
Then always use a speed that will give you several seconds to go through the mental emergancy check of " what in hell is it doing now" that willl give you a chance to maybe recognize something important as to what action is needed.
In short always think before acting....no matter what your experience level.
Respectfully:
Chuck.