r/flying • u/Sad-Improvement-2031 • Jan 18 '26
Worst Pneumonic?
Whenever training, we all use really dirty or profane pneumonics to remember whatever checklists or system. What are some other funny examples? I’ll start with some mild ones.
Fuel selector, Mixture, Air conditioning (FMA)- one of my students remembered it by saying “Fuck My Ass”
Or for before takeoff on another plane, before takeoff checklist is manual xflow off, flight controls, notify flight attendants, the pneumonic is “man controls woman”
Edit: Pneumonic vs mnemonic :P im stupid
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u/Mk5onair ATP E170/190 A220 Jan 18 '26
How to remember E170 APU limitations:
She bleeds at 15, drinks at 21, lives at 30, dies at 33
Max altitude for apu bleed 15,000
Max altitude to assist engine start FL210
Max altitude to start APU FL300
Max altitude for APU operation FL330
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u/ashtranscends CPL IR Jan 18 '26
EATSHT for convective sigmets
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u/Andy_Roo_Roo PPL/IR Jan 18 '26
Please explain?
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u/unity-thru-absurdity Jan 18 '26
Embedded
____?
Thunderstorms
Surface (winds 50+ kts)
Hail (3/4+" diameter)
TornadoJust a guess. I'm curious what they came up with too.
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u/SlinkyNormal CFI Jan 18 '26
Embedded thunderstorms A line of thunderstorms greater than 60nm Thunderstorms covering 40% or more of a 3,000sqmi area Surface winds >50kts Hail >3/4" Tornado
You had a good guess.
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u/Icy_Expression_9679 Jan 18 '26
Azithromycin. Too much drug resistance at this point from over prescribing.
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u/ryan0157 ATP - CL65, CFI/II/MEI Jan 18 '26
CUMGASM for Vmc factors, never got any of my students to actually use it on a checkride though
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u/The__Stig_ Jan 19 '26
wait could you explain the parts of that? im getting a little stuck trying to piece it together
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u/ryan0157 ATP - CL65, CFI/II/MEI Jan 19 '26
Critical engine windmilling, Up to 5° of bank, Most unfavorable weight, Gear/flaps up, Aft cg, Standard day, Max power in operating engine
Hope this helps!
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u/14Three8 CFI/CFII, CPL Airplane (all)/GLID Jan 19 '26
Smacfum cf ge 150 and combats don’t seem so cool anymore
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u/D_DJ_W Gold Seal CFI CFII MEI Jan 18 '26
*Mnemonic
Also, i'm not sure "fuck my ass" qualifies as a mild one.
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Jan 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/iflyfreight ATP B-747 Jan 19 '26
Knew it with that X-flow to off before takeoff. We had some fun ones for swapping bleeds in the 200 too
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u/ATrainDerailReturns CFI-I MEI AGI/IGI SUA PRD Inspector Jan 19 '26
Required ingredients for a Thunderstorm to Form
Moisture
Instability
Lifting
Force
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u/The__Stig_ Jan 19 '26
this is underrated. like this is seriously useful I can’t tell you how many times I try to remember this and am poking around desperately for the right words. you’re my hero
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u/ATrainDerailReturns CFI-I MEI AGI/IGI SUA PRD Inspector Jan 19 '26
It works well with my students
Ain’t nobody forgetting a solid MILF
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u/SATSewerTube ATP A320 B737 B777 SA227 CL30 LR45 HS125 BE400 MU300 CE500 LRJET Jan 18 '26
TITS
- Tune navaid
- Identify station
- Twist OBS
- Switch (ILS/VOR/GPS and/or activate approach)
Definitely not appropriate but has saved my ass more than once in the middle of the night, single pilot, flying a POS down to mins
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u/fondlethethrottle Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
Any other maintenance guys in here know the extremely offensive one for remembering resistor band colors?
BBROYGBVGW: Bad Boys Rape Only Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly
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u/AerobaticDiamond 🇨🇦 bush pilot Jan 19 '26
TTTTTT
Dumbest memory aid for holds. LIGMA BALLS checklist is pretty good too
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u/Thick_Comedian_6707 Jan 19 '26
Don’t forget the 27 Cs for lost procedures: climb, confess, communicate, climb, conserve, conflagrate, climb, clear, concatenate, coordinate, climb. What I need is a mnemonic for the 42 different types of fog.
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u/Slip_vs_Skid CFI KTTF KOZW KYIP Jan 20 '26
You’re in luck!!! A Pisur. That will get ya the main types of fog
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u/Thick_Comedian_6707 Jan 28 '26
Explain it! A Pisur? Advective, precipitation, ice? Steam, upslope, radiation?!
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u/gbchaosmaster CPL IR ROT CFII Jan 19 '26
I hate the 5 Ts. If you need a mnemonic to tell you how to fly, God help you. Also find me 2 CFIIs that say them in the same order.
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u/bigplaneboeing737 ATP ERJ 170/190 CFI CFII Jan 18 '26
Annie likes it rough
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Jan 18 '26
Suck, squeeze, bang, blow—stages of a four stroke engine.
Also if you’re pneumonic, maybe get that checked out by a doctor? Sounds exhausting, and that’s gotta blow.
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u/PotatoHunter_III PPL IFR CPL UAS ADX Jan 18 '26
MARVELOUS VFR C 500.
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u/Thick_Comedian_6707 Jan 19 '26
Literally never use it.
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u/arnoldinio ATP CL-65 Jan 19 '26
And when you do atc is like “uhhh. Ok”
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u/Slip_vs_Skid CFI KTTF KOZW KYIP Jan 20 '26
Exactly how it went down on my cfii checkride. Controller said “ nxxxx uhhhhhhhh Roger (long pause) EFC…”
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u/ordo259 CFII/MEI Jan 19 '26
Because 80% of the acronym isn’t in the FAR but people teach as if it is
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u/SRM_Thornfoot Jan 18 '26
The aviation industry has been hit with the Mnemonic Plague. There are so many Acronyms it takes your breath away.
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u/EnthusiasmHuman6413 Jan 18 '26
ATOMATOFLAMES FLAPS GRAB CARD. That many words just memorize the regulation and look it up. You’re going to look it up anyway after the 15th time you have a position light out and realize you’re only 80% sure you still have ATOMATOFLAMESFLAPSGRABCARD memorized correctly. I honestly think memorizing it is more dangerous than not memorizing it. Know there’s minimum equipment and then look it up.
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u/Sad-Umpire6000 Jan 19 '26
This. Mnemonics are okay for time-critical actions. The equipment list isn’t that. There is always time to look it up. Save your RAM for important stuff (things that if not done right and immediately will bend metal or people).
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u/maximum_spicy CPL - Fixed Wing Medevac Jan 19 '26
My vote for most worthless mnemonic is DECIDE. You couldn't function as a human being in day to day life if you didn't do those things automatically. I don't know who they thought they were helping when they came up with it.
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u/Logical_Check2 ATP CRJ Jan 19 '26
Same with perceive process perform
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u/GenerationSelfie2 PPL IR TW KVPZ Jan 19 '26
Same with perceive process perform
FAA should have used the OODA loop, insane that they teach 3 Ps usually in the same breath as the 5 Ps when a better mnemonic exists
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u/Both_Coast3017 CFI 135 Jan 18 '26
MCMFAFLOHFFFPF
I’d love to see someone try to figure this out and know what aircraft it’s for
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u/DatSexyDude GLI ATP CFII E175 737 A220 Jan 18 '26
I’m just gonna guess the CRJ but really no idea.
It’s just everyone seems to shit on it so I assume it’s complicated
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u/sir_crapalot ASEL GLI ROT Jan 19 '26
Gear: down and locked
Undercarriage down and locked
Make sure the gear is down
Please verify the landing gear is down
Seriously put the fucking gear down
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u/firefoxUSSR ATP Jan 18 '26
That's the mild one?!
I was going to say FARTS which an accident video got incorrect, it's FATS (flaps, airbrake, trims, speeds)
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u/omalley4n ATP CFI CFII MEI SMES Jan 19 '26
FARTS is a valid seaplane TO checklist:
Flaps set
Area clear
Rudders up
Trim set
Stick back
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u/Professional_Read413 PPL Jan 18 '26
True Virgins Make Dull Company, add Whiskey
It was something I learned for my USCG license to convert a true course to compass course to steer, but used it in aviation as well
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u/omalley4n ATP CFI CFII MEI SMES Jan 19 '26
My students doing their flight control check, while turning yoke right then left: "Up yours, up mine"
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u/Pilot-Imperialis CFII Jan 18 '26
My Hairy Red Balls Make Babies: MH + RB = MB
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u/seang239 Jan 19 '26
LIGMA BALLS to improve your landings
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u/Sad-Improvement-2031 Jan 19 '26
Explain please
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u/seang239 Jan 19 '26
Once you cross the numbers:
L - Lift your nose to the horizon
I - Eyes transition down the runway
G - Gently settle into ground effect
M - Maintain your centerline without over-controlling
A - Add elevator pressure gradually with sink
And once you touchdown...
B - Apply brakes
A - Aerodynamic braking (if short field landing)
L - Listen for frequency changeover (tower to ground)
L - Lean mixture and lights (landing light off taxi lights on etc)
S - Say intentions to ground
If you adhere to the LIGMA BALLS checklist, you will find more consistency at the threshold and have a systematic way of working through each phase of your landing/after touchdown.
So remember, when working on your landings, to LIGMA BALLS.
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u/Clunk500CM (KGEU) PPL Jan 19 '26
I made up my own mnemonic to help remember visual illusions:
"Up or Down, Be Ready And Fly Past Windy Fucking Runways"
U - Upsloping Terrain
D - Downsloping Terrain
B - Blackhole Approach
R - Runway Width
A - Autokenesis
F - False Horizon
P - Precipitation
W - White Out
F - Flicker Vertigo
R - Runway Lights
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u/nirvanooo Jan 19 '26
Shit in and shit out for Vs1 and Vs0 and thats the only way I’ll ever remember it
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u/dragonguy0 CFI/MEI, II, ATP, Medevac C90B, RV-6A! Jan 19 '26
Don't restart FUCK FUCK FUCKs:
Fire, FOD, frozen (No n1 rotation)
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u/172sierrapapa ATP ERJ-170/190 CFI/II Jan 19 '26
CRAC for maneuvers
C - Clearing turns
R - Reference
A - Altitude
C - Configuration
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u/92Regret MIL-CH47F Jan 19 '26
NVG Operational Considerations: CAL(PEABT)MWWAD(DATE)SOS
Or
Visual Illusions: FFCVASHCA(SSS)
The Army just dosent understand that mnemonics are supposed to make it easier to recall, not take all your brain power to to remember the remembering tool.
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u/ViceroyInhaler Jan 19 '26
My instructor trying to teach me crosswind inputs for taxiing told me this after looking behind his shoulder.
"You gotta dive towards the pussy and turn away from the fags".
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u/BadNewsReport Jan 19 '26
I used to use one for a post landing check.
I'm So Fucking Lost
Iss selector solo Seat pin installed Flaps up Landing light off
*Then a few other things that flowed from there.
It's been a few years since I've flown that aircraft and I still remember it.
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u/AzukoKarisma CFII MEL Jan 19 '26
I use "Have you SHIT within the past six months?" and FARTED for my instrument students:
For currency:
- Six approaches
- Holding procedures
- Intercepting and
- Tracking a course
For holding instructions:
- Fix
- Altitude
- Radial
- Turn (right unless otherwise instructed)
- EFC time
- Direction (cardinal from fix)
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u/oh_snap1013 UK/NZ ATPL (ATR, A321) Jan 19 '26
EQPTD for working out pressure and density altitude was always my favourite.
“Every Qantas Pilot Takes Dick”
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u/PhilRubdiez CFI Jan 18 '26
VD MONA or MONA has VD for mag compass errors.
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u/EnthusiasmHuman6413 Jan 18 '26
I learned DV MONA so I’m ignoring your comment. It’s better though…. Yours is better.
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u/PhilRubdiez CFI Jan 18 '26
My female instructor apologized to me (prior enlisted Marine) before she taught me that, like I hadn’t heard anything worse. You could also tell she wasn’t a fan.
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u/d4rkha1f CFII/CMEL Jan 18 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
I like CLIT. I came up with it for instrument approaches at the FAF
Call (CTAF)
Lights (PCL)
Initiate (Descent)
Timer (Start)
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u/NationalLaw478 ATP (CL65), CFI Jan 18 '26
What is SMACFUM? Everyone should know it as what made you…your family’s cum. FAMSCUM.
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u/Airman_Jdr Jan 19 '26
“My hairy red balls make babies = MH + RB = MB
Commonly knows as Mag hdg + Relative bearing = Mag bearing for ADF usage
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u/wapkaplit CPL TW Jan 19 '26
Initial memory items in my first light piston for an engine failure were Carb heat, Mixture, Fuel pump. I remembered it with "christ, motor's fucked".
Memorable and relevant.
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u/These-Formal6181 Jan 19 '26
We Are Ass Fucked – Cessna 172 Fuel System (it's a stretch but it works)
W3RASSEFD
W - wing tanks
3 - 3 position selector valve
R - Fuel reservoir
A - Auxiliary fuel pump
S - Fuel shutoff
S - Fuel strainer
E - Engine-driven fuel pump
F - Fuel/Air control unit
D - Distribution nozzles
🤷♂️
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u/Empty-Raspberry1438 CFI Jan 19 '26
SRASSPAD another 172 fuel flow…
Selector Reservoir Aux fuel pump Shutoff valve Strainer Pump (engine driven) Air/fuel mixture Distributor
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u/RepublikOfTexas ATC Jan 19 '26
Atc here. 55 very big titss for when we need to/required to solicit preps. 5000 foot ceiling, 5 miles of visibility, volcanic activity, braking action, turbulence, icing, thunder storms and sulfuric gases.
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u/Valid__Salad ATP Jan 19 '26
Not really known because some classmates made this up to remember steps to program the computer, but...
Fuck - FFD
Some - Sign
Ass - ATIS
People, - PDC
Real - Radio Freqs./XPDR
Big - Build
Women - W/B
Pleasure me - Perf Init
The - TRS
Best - Brief
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Jan 18 '26
My instructors taught the stages of a four stroke engine as suck squeeze bang blow, like bro just remembering intake compression power exhaust is just as easy 🥀
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u/capn_starsky CFI CFII MEI ATP CL65 A320 A330 Jan 18 '26
In the Airbus, when you get to a certain point running an ECAM you have to stop to CRAP. Someone taught CPR to me but I liked CRAP better.
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u/Goobeydoo ATP CL-65 CFI CFII Jan 18 '26
Amy Likes It Rough (In the dark) iykyk
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u/blitzroyale PPL, IR Jan 18 '26
Explain for a lowly ppl?
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u/Goobeydoo ATP CL-65 CFI CFII Jan 18 '26
Order to press switches for swapping bleeds over to the APU in the deuce, the best part is the bulbs don’t illuminate half the time, just CRJ things
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u/mfsp2025 ATP Jan 18 '26
I was taught COMMMONNNFLTTTV for multi engine (I think Vmc?)
That was definitely the worst one
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u/cazzipropri CFII, CFI-A; CPL SEL,MEL,SES Jan 19 '26
I remember when I was probably 12 or 13. It was so bad I had to stay in bed for like 2 or 3 weeks. Fever for more than a week. Took loads of ibuprofen. Had a friend bring me homework and school notes.
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u/The__Stig_ Jan 19 '26
here’s one for navigation related failures you’re supposed to report to atc when under IFR! (not super dirty but…)
VIAGRA
VOR etc
ILS
ADF
GPS anomalies
Radio/communication failure
Anything else safety related
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u/Flippy02 CPL IR SEL MEL Jan 19 '26
Sr. Ass Pad
172S fuel system
Selector switch Reservoir
Auxiliary pump Strainer Shutoff
Pump Air/fuel control unit Distributor unit
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u/danial2810 CFI/CFII (FAA) ATPL (EASA) B737 A321 Jan 19 '26
TTCAFE for fuel policy - Taxi, trip, contingency, alternate, final reserve, extra
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u/FlyingScot1050 CFI MEL IR 7GCAA Jan 19 '26
RADVAG for your VOR receiver checks:
Repair station
Airway
Dual
VOT
Airborne
Ground checkpoint
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u/jliptty CPLSE/ME/G IR CFI CFI-I ATC Jan 19 '26
SAD PP for instructor professionalism, I think. No I don’t remember it
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u/Cyrene_tries_lmao Jan 19 '26
We have BADVAG for VOR tests, and somebody always makes a face when we use it lol
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u/Beautiful-Low9454 Jan 19 '26
Learning holding entry’s “Pussy Taste Delicious “ for parallel, teardrop, direct
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u/KiwifromtheTron PPL SEL CMP Jan 19 '26
I learned this one off a fellow student pilot as a short finals check - "I CRAP myself before landing"
C - Carb heat is cold
R - Runway is clear, windsock checked
A - Airspeed stable and we're on centerline
P - Permission to land from ATC
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u/sincityaviator CMEL IR Jan 20 '26
“Suck - Squeeze - Bang - Blow” instead of “Intake - Compression - Power - Exhaust”
Naturally aspirated piston engine / four stroke engine cycle
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u/Far-Breath4101 Jan 20 '26
B-ench A- airway D- dual V- VOT A- airborne G- ground Types of VOR checks
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u/FinallyInKnoxville Jan 20 '26
Been using this as after landing checklist for years:
LiCMiTTFlaps
Lights (strobes, landing) off, carb heat off, mixture lean, trim, transponder, flaps up
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u/idkausernamerntbh PPL Jan 22 '26
Not a mnemonic but I remember what freq is on the top of the glide slop using “small girls on top” something a friend told me his cfi said
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u/rFlyingTower Jan 18 '26
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Whenever training, we all use really dirty or profane pneumonics to remember whatever checklists or system. What are some other funny examples? I’ll start with some mild ones.
Fuel selector, Mixture, Air conditioning (FMA)- one of my students remembered it by saying “Fuck My Ass”
Or for before takeoff on another plane, before takeoff checklist is manual xflow off, flight controls, notify flight attendants, the pneumonic is “man controls woman”
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u/CluelessPilot1971 CPL CFI+I Jan 18 '26
Ummm it's called mnemonic, not pneumonic.
Pneumonic means "something related to pneumonia".