Author Mindy Lindheim with the Citation M2 and Phenom 100
If you are a pilot, I have no doubt that you have heard these words: “Stay ahead of the airplane.” And if you are lucky, maybe these words were even shouted to you while shoved up against a sweaty-armed instructor in a Cessna 172 back in private pilot training. Typically, this phrase is meant to be applied when airborne in the friendly skies to stay ahead of your tasks, but this phrase can actually be applied to many facets of your aviation journey.
For me, “staying ahead of the airplane” starts on the ground. If you know your ground knowledge like the back of your hand, the flying portion becomes much easier and allows you to focus on actual flying skills when entering the cockpit.
Type Rating School
Earning a new type rating is a challenge. Most students only know of their start date just a few weeks prior and don’t get much time to pre-study, which, in my opinion, is actually acceptable. The course isn’t designed for applicants to know much more than their memory items and limitations prior to showing up.
Fast forward to day one of school, and you are sitting in class drinking from a fire hose. You have several days, or even weeks, of brand-new knowledge being directed at you of systems, aerodynamics, performance, and more. While immersed in type rating school, you’ll find that this information sticks with you quite well. Your instructors drill into your head each day what to remember, and in just a few short weeks after a successful checkride, you walk out with your fresh type rating certificate.
But what about after you leave type school? Unless this new material is studied more frequently, your brain will quietly dismiss all your new learnings. Systems troubles on a trip may have you struggling to reach back in your memory bank from school many months ago on how to solve your issue.
Or, what may be even more likely is that you are staring down day one of recurrent training and can hardly remember what you learned a full year ago. How will you prove to your instructor that you are still as sharp after all this time in just a handful of short days?
Your Future Self Will Thank you
It all starts with initial type training. And if you are already past this point, don’t worry—this still applies to you!
Most schools are the same. They give you about thirty pounds of books, guides, manuals, etc., and it appears it would take a lifetime to go through it all. This can be especially daunting if you are just trying to have a quick refresher before recurrent training.
The solution to easy future studying and waltzing through recurrent is quite simple. You need to make your own study guide. And no, I don’t mean borrowing mine – you must make your own.
Study Guide How-To
This is too easy; if you haven’t done this before, you are sleeping on the simplest way to succeed. Here are the steps to take while in training:
- Read and learn the material each day as assigned
- Highlight key items in the material as you read so you can easily find it again
- Take handwritten notes in class (must be handwritten! Studies show handwritten notes are better for memory and learning)
- Save any quizzes or tests you take with the correct answers
- Each evening, compile the highlighted items from the book, handwritten notes, and correct quiz questions into a single document on your computer (yes, you can type this time). Sort the information however you’d like, but I like to sort it by chapter according to the primary training book. Then, add additional sections at the end of the document with miscellaneous and simulator notes.
before takeoff
Why Does It Work?
This works by exercising several parts of your brain – reading, listening, writing, and reviewing. It’s important to read the entire chapter once on hydraulics, for example, as you need to know how the system works, but your study guide doesn’t need to be that in-depth. It should be bullet points of limitations, brief explanations, any “gotchas” your instructor informed you of that may be on the test, and even real-world flying tips & tricks you may be taught in class. Anything you want your future self to know about that chapter should have its place as a bullet point.
The miscellaneous and simulator sections are equally important to note. My study guide’s miscellaneous notes remind me of a variety of things, such as V-speeds, single-pilot operation requirements, RVSM notes, max weights, etc. Then, my simulator section consists of every single thing I could remember from my checkride, as this will help you prepare for recurrent.
Put The Hard Work In Now
The bottom line is that you are already working your tail off in school. You may as well put all the hard work in now as you are already committed to learning this material. This study guide will be a fantastic resource for you as you study for the initial checkride but then again as a resource each time you go to recurrent. Your thoughts and notes will be in one easy document to brush up on, and you will be off to the races. Bonus points if you add to it each recurrent of new things you may learn!
For reference, my study guide on the Cessna Citation CJ3+ covers material from all 17 chapters I learned in school (plus my miscellaneous and simulator section) and is 41 pages long. Some chapters are a half-page of bullet points, and more complex chapters may take up four pages. If I am skimming through the guide in its entirety, it may take me about thirty minutes to read it front to back, but that is a lot of information in a very short time.
Prove It
Does it actually work? In fact, it does. My study guide was a fan favorite in my initial Citation M2 type rating class when prepping for the checkride and helped me easily get through the oral portion. But this guide really proved itself later on.
I took time away from flying jets as I shifted my aircraft sales career and kept busy refurbishing my vintage Cessna Skylane. However, something kept calling me back to jet life, and I decided to go to recurrent earlier this year for the first time since I earned my 525 type rating over three years prior. Also, to be noted, I had only flown the Citation 525 a small handful of times during those three years, so the information was far from relevant.
I stepped into a three-day progressive recurrent, and with the help of my study guide, I aced my schooling with flying colors. My classmates were pilots actively flying the aircraft full-time and had thousands more hours than I did in the Citations, but I knew every answer they didn’t. It wasn’t because I am a super genius but because I read my study guide before class. The instructors jokingly (but not jokingly) asked if I wanted a job teaching the course.
Lastly, you are way more likely to review a polished document and keep it handy than trying to decipher your old written notes on a dusty shelf. Anything that is not easily accessible will hardly ever be put to good use. And as promised, if you are past
initial type school, start creating your study guide at your next recurrent. You will be delightfully surprised at just how easy this makes your life and dramatically shortens study time and stress.
