Danny,
Re cockpit drills, and dummy prop controls etc.
I've been flying since starting at Bankstown, Sydney in 1969 & completed a UK PPL at Shoreham Sussex.
We a PAYG civvies were taught to remember the nmenomics TTMFFFGGHH , FREDA and BUMPFFH.
I have them still on my kneepad & have never stopped using them, as deviation from any one might, for my feeble thought processes, lead to neglecting another.
But in fact I've never piloted other than fixed u/c let alone a mighty twin. So in my Rans S6 with 80 roaring h.p., which boasts no hand brake to release or folding u/c to check "Down & Locked", I still release an imaginary lever, bang the floor and point to the gauges to prevent preflight & landing checks merely becoming a thoughtless chant.
It amuses my inner self to continue doing all of them, as at my age (78) I'll never get a bigger a/c, but like to do it if only for old times sake.
mike hallam