Inert Knowledge

It is imperative for pilots to “operationalize” book knowledge, such as the flight and operations manuals as well as other doctrine relevant to operations, to further their airmanship skills. Of course, the first step is learning the material and being able to recall important facts, but the ultimate goal should always be the ability to apply that critical knowledge operationally on the “dark and stormy night with people in the water.” 

Here are some examples of aviators with inert EP knowledge who know the memory items (bold face) but have not yet operationalized the information: 

• They don’t understand exactly how symptoms relate to the malfunction. 

• They don’t wholly understand how the steps (the immediate actions steps and the subsequent non memory items) correct or combat the malfunction. 

• They have not done the work to correlate EPs that will likely be related (e.g., how the malfunction might progress or EPs that could be a result of other malfunctions). 

Aviators with inert knowledge, which has not been operationalized, can “data dump” the immediate action memory items (bold face) and other book knowledge when they have studied recently, but it is a static knowledge that does not translate well to the air.  

“Batching” is a great study technique to “operationalize” EP knowledge. In the “Establishing an Instrument Scan” weather flying post, I recommended “batching” the IIMC and unusual attitude EPs because considering which emergency procedures are paired, or could be sequential, facilitates the transformation of static knowledge to operational knowledge, empowering the pilot to appropriately manage malfunctions in the air.  

Using a tail rotor malfunction as an example, let’s look at how pilots can operationalize study to prepare for a malfunction: 

Start with a tail rotor malfunction (TGB CHIP/TEMP, IGB CHIP/TEMP). Review the symptoms, recite the memory items, look at the procedure. Consider a safe altitude and airspeed for autorotation. Because the landing criteria is “land as soon as possible,” what is the appropriate flight regime? Is it different if offshore with dozens of miles until a safe landing site compared to over land? 

If symptoms progress (strong vibrations, metal fumes in the tail pylon or aft section, yaw kicks, or other dynamic indications of an impending tail rotor drive failure), the landing criteria becomes “land immediately.” What flight regime will you fly to descend and slow from the safe altitude and airspeed for an autorotation to “execute a landing without delay?”  

This is likely to progress to a tail rotor drive failure while in forward flight. How will this manifest? The yaw to the right and roll to the left is likely combined with the loss of the dynamic indication (e.g., the significant vibrations are no longer present because the tail rotor rotation has ceased).  

The loss of tail rotor drive in forward flight results in an autorotation. The autorotation procedure has the pilot turn into the wind, which may be balanced with a turn toward a suitable area for landing over land or over water; on a dark night, potentially a turn toward a visible horizon.  

Amid the autorotation, the crew should affect the emergency landing procedure and, at the completion of the autorotation, the emergency egress procedure. Add those to your study of every land immediately emergency procedure. 

Rather than studying the emergency procedures in the order in which they are organized in the flight manual, by helicopter system, to improve their application and execution in the aircraft, instead, pilots should study them according to how they could present themselves in flight.