Originally Posted by Airsupport

We would like to get our memory items down to 1... FLY THE AIRPLANE.. I have seen it quoted in several crm books and studies about how some senior captains (and i mean senior as in had been flying forever) would actually pull out a stop watch on their checkrides and when an emergency would start wouldn't do anything till it reached 10. They asked him why he would do that and simply stated it was because "I have yet to crash a plane when i hit my stop watch". there is a good lesson there. I have never had an engine failure at v1. i have never had a thrust reverser deploy at v1. but i have had an apu fire at 1000 feet on the climb out. I have had a bird strike after 1200 or so feet and had to intentionally shut down the engine. The best thing you can do is SLOW DOWN and fly the airplane. Doing a checklist fast is sloppy. Like a captain buddy of mine says, "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast." You have time. Even with an engine fire or severe engine damage, you have time. Even on emergency descents. Our memory item is Oxygen mask don and 100%, crew communication establish. no big deal, get the mask on and then slowly and smoothly go through the qrh. You have time. I have seen in several instances (in the sim) where memory items can actually hinder the recovery from an emergency if you have to many of them and they are complicated. Number 1 fly the plane, number 2 take care of business. Its easy and works wonders.