Originally Posted by
Coordinate
Interested to know as it might await me some day, how much of this do you actually remember vs how much are you supposed to remember?
A surprising amount gets beaten into the average brain. On my first jet it involved knowing all the start/stop/flight limits, a goodly amount of the normal and abnormal checklists, and a thorough knowledge of where to find stuff in the company Ops manual.
Current types: much is in the FMS. I can't remember the last time I properly calculated take off or landing performance from a manual, nowadays you enter the data either into the FMS or EFB for where you are and out pop the numbers. And you still have to remember where to find the right information in the Ops Manual. Much of the time, if you don't know, it's somewhere in one of the big, thick books in the docs stowage.
As for the OP. Take good time to learn the met stuff. Not only is it interesting it will keep you alive. If you think it's all a bit of a waste of time take up a different hobby. My boss and I were talking about decoding station circles and creating TAFs from them for the ATPL exams recently and felt bloody old when a couple do young co's asked us what we were on about as station circles are no longer in the syllabus for ATPL. The atmosphere we live in is fascinating to pilots, sailors, farmers and many others. Checking the TAFs and forms 214/215 every morning over breakfast and keeping an eye through the day as to how accurate they/you were is a good way to learn. I still do it, even on non flying days.
SND