THERE'S NO WAY TO BE TOTALLY READY FOR EVERY EMERGENCY, BUT THERE ARE WAYS TO significantly improve your odds of surviving one. One key is preparation. During your flight training, you and your instructor will walk through and practice a variety of emergency scenarios-hopefully to the point where you feel ready to handle one on your own. Often, a checklist, such as the ones you use for preflight or engine start, will help guide you through what to do. There isn't a checklist for every abnormal situation, though, and many emergencies can be preventable because they're set in motion by pilot error. Too often, pilots fly into avoidable scenarios like in-flight icing, thunderstorms, fuel exhaustion, and VFR into IMC- sometimes leading to an accident. Avoiding those flight conditions will be up to your aeronautical decision making. You can't control the weather, but you can choose your route or stay on the ground. You can't significantly modify your fuel burn in unexpected headwinds, but you can control when and where you land to refuel. Practice good ADM: You'll be less likely to have an emergency and more able to cope with one.
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