Read the approach chart like a book. Left to right, top to bottom, stopping to do things (like listen to the AWOS) as you get to them. That's why the chart is formatted that way and it works very well.
WRIMTM, huh? There's another one for you, Mark! (I know
@midlifeflyer won't be able to resist chiming in on this thread, we have similar opinions about mnemonics...)
EDIT: Okay, I read the article, and I specifically do NOT like this briefing technique. It skips around the chart too much. And do you really need a letter of the mnemonic to tell you "don't forget to fly the plane" (the "I", for "check your instruments").
I'm familiar with that one. The approach briefing mnemonics are the most useless of the whole bunch with absolutely nothing to redeem them. Actually, I have a feeling most of the briefin mnemonics come from the highly artificial training environment. Let's take a look at tis one:
Weather - Really? I can't even imagine a real IFR flight during which one has not been payin attention to relevant weather from the time they planned the flight two weeks earlier! That's been turned in before the in-cockpit approach briefing.
Radios - Can't possibly mean the communication frequencies I've looked at on every flight since my CFI allowed me to use the radio myself. Must mean nav frequencies. I guess that one came from some pilot or instructor thinking, "Hmmm. It's the ILS 3. The frequency is 111.3. I don't need that maybe I'll get to it later when it's mnemonic time."
Instruments - God, I sure hope you 've been paying attention to this the whole flight and aren't waiting for the approach environment.
Minimums. Now this is important. How the heck is a pilot supposed to ask themselves, "how far down can I go and how does that compare with the weather" watthour a mnemonic to assist them?
Time - OK I'll give this one. I don't think I've times an approach in a decade given the nice MAP displayed on GPS. But yeah, this could be forgotten. Although it kind of fits in with...
Missed approach - Who who possibly think of looking at that without am mnemonic.
(and you say I don't like mnemonics. Where'd you get that idea? Just don't tell Fred.)
Then, of course, there are the things pilots really
do miss all the time. I found myself going missed once because some dummy didn't turn on the approach lights at the nontowered airport. I'll bet I'm not the only moron! So I've taken to circling the symbol or writing "PCL" on the chart while I brief it.
My briefing style was developed during a walk on a beach. Really. I was still a relatively new instrument pilot and had made arrangements to fly with an instructor to get some unfamiliar approaches in and blow of some major rust. I had looked at the plate for one of the approaches earlier and was mentally reviewing it. I suddenly realized that it was the Plan View that stuck in my head and the situational awareness provided by "we're coming from here, intercepting this, and going down there" put everything else into place.
So basically, my personal final briefing flow - based on top-to-bottom, left-to-right flow of the chart - comes down to checking I have the right plate, loading the primary ground-based navaid (if there is one) in the radio to get it ready for identification, and checking for that wide misalignment of the FAC with the name of the approach (and that "PCL!). Then it's straight to the plan view with coordinated glances at the Profile View to fill in the mental picture of what it looks like.