True, but just as true, there is a lot in the real world that you'll never learn for the test.There is a lot that you'll learn for the test that you'll never use in the real world.
Examples (all from my own real world, some from my younger and foolisher years):
- When you pick up unexpected ice while on final approach, your windshield goes opaque, and the ice builds on the leading edges so quickly that it's shocking--and it's still there when you land;
When you forget to turn on your pitot heat in visible moisture, it freezes over, and when you finally remember to turn it on, the circuit breaker pops;
When you see St. Elmo's fire in your windshield;
When you're flying in heavy rain and all of your avionics quit doing their thing;
When you realize that the only legal alternate within fuel range on a flight from Laramie, WY, to Casper, WY, is Pueblo, CO;
When you're starting to collect unexpected ice in an airplane that is neither FIKI nor famous for being able to carry any ice at all, and ATC tells you that you're number 4 for the approach to Jackson, WY;
When you're cleared for the approach to Durango, but the previous 3 airplanes have gone missed to their alternates;
When the manifold pressure drops to zero in IMC, your engine is only windmilling, and the nearest airport is reporting 200' ceiling and a half mile of visibility.
Fortunately, a lot of what you'll learn, whether from reading, or DVDs, or recurrent testing and quizzes, but especially from doing and from others who have been there before you, is to use your skills and judgment to avoid getting into situations which are over your head or beyond the capabilities of your airplane. There will still be times when you'll be faced with situations which you've never heard about, and that's when you'll assemble all that information and ferret out your own answers to the situation you've found yourself in. But hopefully, you'll learn that the best solution is not to have gotten there in the first place, so those situations will be relatively few.
Cary
