In the GA community, an automated aircraft is generally comprised of an integrated advanced avionics system consisting of a primary flight display (PFD), a multifunction flight display (MFD) including an instrument-certified Global Positioning System (GPS) with traffic and terrain graphics, and a fully integrated autopilot. This type of aircraft is commonly known as an advanced avionics aircraft.

Automation is the single most important advance in aviation technologies. Electronic flight displays (EFDs) have made vast improvements in how information is displayed and what information is available to the pilot. [Figure 17-18]

Multifunction displays (MFDs) are capable of displaying moving maps that mirror sectional charts and depict all airspace, including Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs); MFDs are so descriptive that many pilots fall into the trap of relying solely on the moving maps for navigation.

Although automation has made flying safer, automated systems can make some errors more evident, and sometimes hide other errors or make them less evident. In a study published in 1995, the British Airline Pilots Association officially voiced its concern that “Airline pilots increasingly lack ‘basic flying skills’ as a result of reliance on automation.”

As automated flight decks began entering everyday line operations, instructors and check airmen grew concerned about some of the unanticipated side effects: despite the promise of reducing human mistakes, the automation actually created much larger errors at times, and at other times seemed to lull the flight crews into complacency.

A major study was conducted to evaluate the performance of two groups of pilots: a control group who flew an older version of a common twin-jet airliner equipped with analog instrumentation, and an experimental group who flew the same aircraft equipped with an electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) and a flight management system (FMS). The pilots were evaluated in maintaining aircraft parameters such as heading, altitude, airspeed, glideslope, and localizer deviations, as well as pilot control inputs, during a variety of normal, abnormal, and emergency maneuvers in 4 hours of simulator sessions.

17.8.1 Results of the Study #

When pilots who had flown EFIS for several years were required to fly various maneuvers manually, the aircraft parameters and flight control inputs clearly showed some erosion of flying skills. During normal maneuvers such as turns to headings without a flight director, the EFIS group exhibited somewhat greater deviations than the analog group. The differences became more significant during abnormal maneuvers such as slam-dunks: when given close crossing restrictions, the analog crews were more adept at the mental math and maneuvered the aircraft more smoothly, whereas the EFIS crews tended to go “heads down” and tried to solve the crossing restriction on the FMS. [Figure 17-19]

Emergency maneuvers clearly broadened the difference in manual flying skills between the two groups.

Those who reviewed the data saw that the EFIS pilots who better managed the automation also had better flying skills. It is recommended that pilots of automated aircraft occasionally disengage the automation and manually fly the aircraft to maintain stick-and-rudder proficiency. At no time is the moving map meant to substitute for a VFR sectional or low altitude en route chart.

17.8.2 Equipment Use #

Pilots need to understand and properly use the equipment installed in their aircraft.

17.8.3 Autopilot Systems #

In a single-pilot environment, an autopilot system can greatly reduce workload. [Figure 17-20] As a result, the pilot is free to focus his or her attention on other flight deck duties, which can improve situational awareness and reduce the possibility of a CFIT accident. While the addition of an autopilot may be considered a risk control measure, the real challenge comes in determining the impact of an inoperative unit. For example, a pilot planning a VOR approach down to minimums on a dark night into an unfamiliar airport may have been relying heavily on a functioning autopilot capable of flying a coupled approach; a malfunctioning autopilot could be the single factor that takes this from a medium to a serious risk. The best way to ensure a pilot is prepared for such an event is to carefully study the issue prior to departure and determine well in advance how an autopilot failure is to be handled.

17.8.4 Familiarity #

Pilot familiarity with all equipment is critical in optimizing both safety and efficiency. If a pilot is unfamiliar with any aircraft systems, this will add to workload and may contribute to a loss of situational awareness. Pilots should not look upon unfamiliarity with the aircraft and its systems as a risk control measure, but instead as a hazard with high risk potential. Discipline is key to success.

17.8.5 Respect for Onboard Systems #

Automation can assist the pilot in many ways, but a thorough understanding of the system(s) in use is essential to gaining the benefits it can offer. Understanding leads to respect, which is achieved through discipline and the mastery of the onboard systems. It is important to be able to fly the airplane using minimal information from the primary flight display (PFD), including turns, climbs, descents, and approaches.

17.8.6 Reinforcement of Onboard Suites #

The use of an electronic flight display may not seem intuitive, but competency becomes better with understanding and practice. Computer-based software and incremental training help the pilot become comfortable with the onboard suites; then the pilot needs to practice what was learned in order to gain experience. Reinforcement not only yields dividends in the use of automation, it also reduces workload significantly.

17.8.7 Getting Beyond Rote Workmanship #

The key to working effectively with automation is getting beyond the sequential process of executing an action. If a pilot has to analyze what key to push next, or always uses the same sequence of keystrokes when others are available, he or she may be trapped in a rote process that indicates a shallow understanding of the system. Operating the system with competency and comprehension benefits a pilot when situations become more diverse and tasks increase.

17.8.8 Understand the Platform #

Flight in aircraft equipped with different electronic management suites requires the same attention as aircraft equipped with analog instrumentation. [Figure 17-21]

Two simple rules for use of an EFD: be able to fly the aircraft to the standards in the PTS; and read and understand the installed electronic flight systems manuals, including the use of the autopilot and the other onboard electronic management tools.

17.8.9 Managing Aircraft Automation #

Before any pilot can master aircraft automation, he or she must first know how to fly the aircraft. Maneuvers training remains important because almost 40 percent of all GA accidents take place in the landing phase, and another 15 percent during takeoff and initial climb. An advanced avionics safety issue identified by the FAA concerns pilots who apparently develop an unwarranted over-reliance in their avionics and the aircraft, believing the equipment will compensate for pilot shortcomings. The FAA advanced avionics aircraft Safety Study found that poor decision-making seems to afflict new advanced avionics pilots at a rate higher than that of GA as a whole, and that the majority of accidents are not caused by something directly related to the aircraft, but by the pilot’s lack of experience and a chain of poor decisions. One consistent theme in many fatal accidents is continued VFR flight into IMC. Three key flight management skills are needed to fly the advanced avionics safely: information, automation, and risk.

17.8.10 Information Management #

For the newly transitioning pilot, the PFD, MFD, and GPS/VHF navigator screens seem to offer too much information presented in colorful menus and submenus.

The first critical information management skill is to understand the system at a conceptual level; remembering how the system is organized helps the pilot manage the available information. Learning knob-and-dial procedures is not enough.

The second critical information management skill is stop, look, and read: pilots new to advanced avionics often become fixated on the knobs and try to memorize each sequence of button pushes, but a far better strategy is to read before pushing, pulling, or twisting. Once behind the display screens, the pilot’s goal is to meter, manage, and prioritize the information flow to accomplish specific tasks—for example, programming map scale settings for en route versus terminal area operation, utilizing the terrain awareness page for a night or IMC flight in or near the mountains, using the nearest airports inset at night, and programming the weather datalink to show echoes and METAR status flags.

17.8.11 Enhanced Situational Awareness #

An advanced avionics aircraft offers increased safety with enhanced situational awareness. Although aircraft flight manuals (AFM) explicitly prohibit using the moving map, topography, terrain awareness, traffic, and weather datalink displays as the primary data source, these tools give the pilot unprecedented information for enhanced situational awareness. Without a well-planned information management strategy, however, these tools also make it easy for an unwary pilot to slide into the complacent role of passenger in command. A good strategy should include practices that ensure awareness is enhanced by the use of automation, not diminished: always double-check the system and use verbal callouts (even for single-pilot operations); perform a verification check of all programming before departure; check that the flight routing matches the planned route; verify waypoints; make use of all onboard navigation equipment (for example, use VOR to back up GPS and vice versa); match the use of the automated system with pilot proficiency; and be ready to verify computer data entries, since incorrect keystrokes could lead to loss of situational awareness.

17.8.12 Automation Management #

Advanced avionics offer multiple levels of automation, from strictly manual flight to highly automated flight. No one level of automation is appropriate for all flight situations, but in order to avoid potentially dangerous distractions, the pilot must know how to manage the course deviation indicator (CDI), the navigation source, and the autopilot. It is important for a pilot to know the peculiarities of the particular automated system being used, so the pilot knows what to expect, how to monitor for proper operation, and how to promptly take appropriate action if the system does not perform as expected. At the most basic level, managing the autopilot means knowing at all times which modes are engaged and which modes are armed to engage.

In advanced avionics aircraft, proper automation management also requires a thorough understanding of how the autopilot interacts with the other systems—for example, with some autopilots, changing the navigation source on the e-HSI from GPS to LOC or VOR while the autopilot is engaged in NAV mode will cause the autopilot’s NAV mode to disengage, and lateral control will default to ROL (wing level) until the pilot reengages the NAV mode.