What I Do Before Each Flight Maneuver

Something I do before each and every flight maneuver is knocking out a pre-maneuver checklist and here’s how I do it: I follow the acronym P.A.R.C.

The P in our acronym is our Pre-Maneuver Checklist. Making sure everything is looking good and this is going to vary from airplane to airplane, but have some sort of flow in the pre-maneuver checklist.

The A in our acronym is for an Area To Land. If I am demonstrating a steep turn or a stall or slow flight and the engine quits, I need to focus on, first, recovering out of that maneuver and then where to land. If I already know where I’m going to land in the event of an emergency, I can focus on recovering, getting to Vg (best glide), and then heading toward that landing area. So I knock out my pre-maneuver checklist, I look around me, I look behind me, I look below me and I figure out where I’m going to land if something goes wrong and the engine quits during this flight maneuver.

The R in our acronym is our Radio Call. Maybe you’re in a practice area where there’s a common traffic frequency, a lot a busy flight training areas have that, or maybe you’re close to a pilot controlled or uncontrolled airport. It might be good to jump on their frequency and let them know you’re five miles to the west at 3,500 feet doing steep turns. It’s good to let people know that, so if they are departing from the area they can watch for you.

And the C in our acronym is Clearing Turns. I always do clearing turns last and to the left first because, in a perfect world, if an airplane was overtaking me, he or she is supposed to pass on my right. I wouldn’t want to blindly turn into somebody, so I make my clearing turn to the left and then I make my clearing turn back to the right looking above me, looking below me, looking all around using my instructor or whoever I’m with to help me with that.

P.A.R.C. is the acronym I want you to remember and start adding that pre-maneuver checklist to each and every flight maneuver before you do it. And if you want to impress your examiner on a checkride, knock out a proper pre-maneuver checklist like that.

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