Study techniques
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Study techniques
I know I'm going to get some stick for this! but how do you lot stay on top of study and knowledge of aircraft systems etc? I try to get at least a few hours in per flight! but does anyone have any tips or advice how to make this more enjoyable!
Cheers
Cheers
A couple of hours’ study per flight?......I think you are probably doing more than most.
I was an engineer before being a pilot, so I find technical stuff interesting and easy to assimilate.
But don’t overthink this, You do not need to know every bolt and joint. You need to know what to do if the system stops working.
More specifically, you need to know your memory drills. Then your ECAM actions and drills - which will be displayed for you to follow - read and do. Then you have the STATUS page followed by QRH, and the computer reset table, and the summaries for double hydraulic failure, emergency electric configuration etc.
Above all: FLY - pitch, power, attitude. Navigate - MSA?, where are the nearest airports?, Communicate - work through ECAM and talk to cabin crew and ATC. Then get PM to sort the problem.
I was an engineer before being a pilot, so I find technical stuff interesting and easy to assimilate.
But don’t overthink this, You do not need to know every bolt and joint. You need to know what to do if the system stops working.
More specifically, you need to know your memory drills. Then your ECAM actions and drills - which will be displayed for you to follow - read and do. Then you have the STATUS page followed by QRH, and the computer reset table, and the summaries for double hydraulic failure, emergency electric configuration etc.
Above all: FLY - pitch, power, attitude. Navigate - MSA?, where are the nearest airports?, Communicate - work through ECAM and talk to cabin crew and ATC. Then get PM to sort the problem.
Last edited by Uplinker; 12th May 2019 at 22:18.
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In my experience, either systems are you thing or they're not. Meaning, you may amass a pretty decent knowledge, but you'll never enjoy it, if that's not your kind of good time. Myself, I'm a big time systems nerd, I've been known to read systems manuals TO CURE BOREDOM.
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A sound knowledge of systems will always be essential and after the basic ground school and exam is usually a case of periodic revision but equally essential is a sound knowledge of company SOPs and all the non-normal procedures through to the boxed items in the emergency check-list. These don't get taught in ground school so much so it helps to make yourself familiar with them and to then maintain that familiarity.
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Another scheme is to pick 1 non-normal procedure per flight/day. After reviewing the procedure, go to the FCOM and review the specifics and intricacies of the affected system.
A technique I picked up from a Tony Kerns book is to write out a study plan over 6 months or 12 months of what to study. That way you have a target to aim for and it will cover FCOM, SOPs and any other manual you are required to know. I find the longer I am on the 1 type of aircraft and the older I get,the harder it is to pick up a manual so I need a written plan to force me to stay in the books
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My company has a mandated QRH review every day and as long as I review that with my FO, a normal line pilot will go through every procedure in the QRH at least once per year. But I find something always comes up that gets me into any of the company or training documents every day.
Just the other day, a parcel arrived at the aircraft without any documentation. That's no bueno, so it didn't come with us. But it did make me review our Ground Operations Manual. Not because I was wrong but because it has been a while since I read it. Twenty minutes of reading later and most of it had come back to me enough that if I had to take the exam, I felt I'd pass just fine. Did I finish the manual? No, only those sections that pertain to flight crew, but that's OK. I don't really need to know about how the parcel is accepted in the cargo room from the delivery truck, but it did refresh my memory about things like NOTOCs and separation of dangerous goods, and what must and may be on an air waybill.
Likewise, a few weeks ago I had an electrical caution light come on during the cruise. We ran the QRH, reset the system, and continued on our merry way. In the hotel that night I pulled the electrical system up on the tablet. I awoke later to find the tablet on my chest and about ten pages in, but it's all good, I finished the section and went back to bed.
Your brain is a muscle, so you have to let it relax. Reading for a couple of hours per flight means you're missing some very important "in the moment" things, which are far more important than "the K22 relay connects the main distribution bus to the main feeder bus" type things.
Just the other day, a parcel arrived at the aircraft without any documentation. That's no bueno, so it didn't come with us. But it did make me review our Ground Operations Manual. Not because I was wrong but because it has been a while since I read it. Twenty minutes of reading later and most of it had come back to me enough that if I had to take the exam, I felt I'd pass just fine. Did I finish the manual? No, only those sections that pertain to flight crew, but that's OK. I don't really need to know about how the parcel is accepted in the cargo room from the delivery truck, but it did refresh my memory about things like NOTOCs and separation of dangerous goods, and what must and may be on an air waybill.
Likewise, a few weeks ago I had an electrical caution light come on during the cruise. We ran the QRH, reset the system, and continued on our merry way. In the hotel that night I pulled the electrical system up on the tablet. I awoke later to find the tablet on my chest and about ten pages in, but it's all good, I finished the section and went back to bed.
Your brain is a muscle, so you have to let it relax. Reading for a couple of hours per flight means you're missing some very important "in the moment" things, which are far more important than "the K22 relay connects the main distribution bus to the main feeder bus" type things.
