EP's

[KillerSnakes]

Ladies and Gents,

I am classing up at Whiting soon and I was wondering what types of study methods people used to learn their EP's.

S/F

 

[NavyLonghorn]

I find that fear is the best study aid. Airforce helped with that one quite a bit.

 

[trvsmrtn]

Put your PCL under your pillow when you sleep.

Seriously, you'll learn them a few at a time for CPT's. You'll start stressing over them and waking up in the middle of the night and having EP nightmares where you sit up yelling "condition lever fuel off, t-handle pull". Or was that just me?

 

[ander37]

You had that dream too!!!
Glad to know it wasn't just me

 

[Brett327]

Ladies and Gents,

I am classing up at Whiting soon and I was wondering what types of study methods people used to learn their EP's.

S/F

Seriously, once I memorized them w/ flashcards which I wrote myself (as opposed to the prefab ones you can buy), I would recite them while juggling various objects to maximize distractions and fill my proverbial bucket. If your brain practices doing EPs in the background while it concentrates on other tasks, that will help you in the cockpit, where your attention will necessarily be divided, especially in a real emergency.

Brett

 

[zab1001]

Put your PCL under your pillow when you sleep.

Seriously, you'll learn them a few at a time for CPT's. You'll start stressing over them and waking up in the middle of the night and having EP nightmares where you sit up yelling "condition lever fuel off, t-handle pull". Or was that just me?

I actually used to have quasi-lucid dreams of me flying my bed around south Texas, trying to remember EPs. I started sleeping on the floor, it worked out much better.

 

[trvsmrtn]

Sleeping on the floor wasn't an option for me. I'm in lovely base housing complete with uber uncomfy tarazzo floors. I'll try a pallet when I get to advanced.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Jokers.....that's all we got here.

I think EP's were easiest for me to learn by utilzing muscle memory. For me, memorizing a bunch of steps is absolutely meaningless unless I able to visualize the procedure at the very least. It's even better for me if I am able to practice actual steps in the cockpit or cockpit mockup. You should have access to the CPT's there at Whiting. I'd suggest running through the EP's a couple times with another study partner (take turns). Get the flash cards at Wings n Things if they still sell them. Once you've gone thru the procedures two or three times, you'll be able to learn them better when you're at home practicing in the comfort of your home. When you get to CPT's you'll be ahead of the curve. But you'll still study your @ss off that week.

 

[Harrier Dude]

I wouldn't buy the pre-fab flash cards. I think I learned more from making them than I did from using them. I did them for EPs (red marker), Systems gouge (green marker), and normal procedures (Blue marker). I did it for every aircraft I have flown (T-34/T-2/TA-4/AV-8B) and it worked good for me.

I know a lot of guys who did the juggling thing with good results, but I can't do it even when I concentrate on just juggling.

I also think that it helps to study one flight at a time. Burn that flight into your brain before you brief. Be familiar with the next flight, but don't go much beyond that. It's not like college where you can "have a general knowlege" and BS through a test. It has to be stone cold memorization to the subconsious level.

Anyway, it works for me.

Oh, and learn EP number 1 for any plane. "If you move a switch, and something BAD happens....move it back where it was".

 

[arbor]

Concur with all those who mentioned writing out your own flash cards. Writing it out gives you a good amount of the learning curve right there.

What keeps me on my toes after I initially memorized them is that my roomates and I will randomly throw EP's at each other throughout the day in our house. I guess it could be seen as a little excessive, but the randomness of it really helped with kind of spontaneous response that EP's need. No matter what, however, studying with a partner is pretty much a must to make sure you're not missing anything.

 

[Fly Navy]

When I practice them, I recite them outloud as I move my hands as if I'm actuating the switches, controls, etc. It helps a lot.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

I wouldn't buy the pre-fab flash cards. I think I learned more from making them than I did from using them. I did them for EPs (red marker), Systems gouge (green marker), and normal procedures (Blue marker). I did it for every aircraft I have flown (T-34/T-2/TA-4/AV-8B) and it worked good for me.

I like your color coding system. I absolutely agree with writing out your EP's and not just running them through your head. I chose the pre-fab flashcards because the procedures were typed out and each EP would fit on one flash card, unlike if I wrote them out myself.

I used the pre-fab flash cards to study from and then also had a white board I used to write them out over and over and over again. It was a technique I learned from my nuke power days learning immediate actions for casualties. I had a whiteboard, dry erase marker, and eraser and would write out the procedure until I had it down cold.

 

[TheBubba]

You could also do what I do... I keep a set of index cards in the car, and have people randomly throw'em at me while I'm driving.

 

[Harrier Dude]

What keeps me on my toes after I initially memorized them is that my roomates and I will randomly throw EP's at each other throughout the day in our house.

Maybe you could combine that with the system from the movie "Waiting". Your roomates and yourself continually jump out from behind corners and demand an answer to a flashcard. If you miss the EP, your roomate gets to kick you in the butt. One kick for normal procedures, 2 for systems, and 3 for EPs.

Whether the namecalling follows is up to you.

 

[zab1001]

Maybe you could combine that with the system from the movie "Waiting". Your roomates and yourself continually jump out from behind corners and demand an answer to a flashcard. If you miss the EP, your roomate gets to kick you in the butt. One kick for normal procedures, 2 for systems, and 3 for EPs.

Whether the namecalling follows is up to you.

As I started reading your post, I was sure you were going to say "and if you're wrong, you show them the brain..." (underrated flick BTW)