When learning or revising for how to handle abnormal situations, it's tempting to try to build a mental 'library' of events and how you would deal with them. However, on a complex aircraft, there are just too many.
A far more effective technique is to learn a single method for dealing with any threat or error. This method can then be applied to whatever comes along.
The memory capacity that has been freed up by not learning multiple events can be better used for technical knowledge. That way, even if presented with a checklist that you have never seen, the drill is likely to be carried out correctly as each step will make sense. If you have merely learned the steps in the checklist, there is no context, and it is all too easy to mis-read an instruction or select the wrong control.
To be clear, those who train for the process are only highly effective if they make the effort to gather the technical knowledge to allow the method to work. Most current conversion courses are based getting the candidates to a 'need to know to operate' level of knowledge. While this level is adequate, it is also the bare minimum. It leaves no margin for 'bad hair days' and should be seen as just a starting level. Crews who aspire to high performance will not be satisfied with this level of knowledge.
In a similar vein, in the early days of Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, crews were encouraged to build a library of 'mental models' of situations, and then select the appropriate one for a given situation. It has now been recognised that, just like learning checklists, this is too rigid, and real life isn't that simple or clear. The basic idea is still valid though, as long as we think more in terms of 'mental representations' than models. We may not have been faced with the exact situation previously, but if it is broadly similar to a previous experience, then we are likely to deal with it in a calmer and more effective way.
WARNING: None of this advice is intended to override the manufacturers checklist instructions.
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