AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2013 - 16

WAYPOINTS

Throttling George

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief

Autopilot use is all about balance

TOM HAINES

flies his
Beechcraft
Bonanza A36
for business
and pleasure.

16 | AOPA PILOT March 2013

THE FORMER NAVAL AVIATOR rotated the twin turboprop skyward, slapped the gear switch up, hit the yaw
damper button, flipped the flaps up, and touched the
autopilot On switch—all before passing through 500 feet
agl. At 27 years old, I was a complete aviation greenhorn
and in complete awe of the pilot and the airplane—my
first flight in a GA turboprop. The most sophisticated
airplane I had flown at that point was a Cessna 172RG.
“That’s the way’s it’s done,” the pilot said confidently. And, as I have experienced many times since, he
was right. He had just completed the company’s annual
training requirement at one of the big training organizations and the mantra was and rightfully so continues
to be: Fly the autopilot.
But like any bit of good advice, it comes with that old
caveat about “too much of a good thing.” For it seems
as if after a couple of decades of convincing pilots that
autopilots aren’t a crutch for poor piloting, the pendulum has swung to the other extreme. The FAA is worried
that pilots are using autopilots too much and that handflying skills, at least among professional crews, are
deteriorating. In fact, the agency early this year issued
a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) encouraging airlines and flight departments to assure that “there are
appropriate opportunities for pilots to exercise manual
flying skills, such as in non-RVSM airspace and during
low workload conditions.” The FAA requires autopilot
use starting at 29,000 feet and up when in “RVSM airspace,” that airspace where reduced vertical separation
minimums apply.
Pilots coming out of World War II had flown rugged
airplanes on all sorts of missions—with people shooting
at them—mostly without “autoflight” systems at all. The
FAA likes the term autoflight over autopilot because the
former includes the use of autothrottles and autothrust
systems—probably auto braking too. Pilots frequently
refer to the autopilot system as “George,” perhaps
because a fellow named George DeBeeson patented
an “automatic airplane control” in 1931. However, not
everyone agrees with that explanation.
Those World War II pilots and the following generation frequently shunned autopilot systems in favor
of mostly hand-flying. Autopilot systems of the time
weren’t all that capable anyhow. But with the advancement of jets and high-altitude flying, the systems
became more capable and newer airline pilots adapted
more readily to the technology.

Few lighter GA airplanes of the 1960s and 1970s had
any autopilots at all. CFIs seldom knew how to instruct
transitioning pilots in their proper use and often autopilots in GA went unused and misunderstood. In the
1990s safety organizations began to understand that
many accidents caused by distractions could be prevented by the use of autopilots and so, in the GA training
world, the emphasis was on using autopilots for nearly
every phase of flight—until just short of touchdown.
Autopilots became more prevalent, capable, and reliable. Today’s younger instructors grew up flying glass
cockpits, which usually come with highly capable autopilots. As a result, training today usually includes the use
of autopilots—or at least much more so than it used to.
No doubt, an autopilot is a great aid when flying
single-pilot in busy airspace and in weather. At cruise
altitude, the system frees the pilot to prepare for the
next phase of flight. However, based on the safety analysis noted in the SAFO, the FAA fears that overuse of
autoflight has eroded hand-flying skills. So expect the
airline and GA training companies to begin emphasizing
phases of flight when hand-flying should be considered.
My Bonanza includes an S-Tec 50 autopilot coupled
to a GPS steering system (GPSS) that flies the airplane
beautifully in lateral modes. It will hold altitude, but
not capture an altitude. With no electric trim, it’s up to
the auto-me system to fly the ascent and descent. And I
happily do. It is, after all, just a Bonanza where rates of
ascent rarely exceed 1,000 fpm and, if I mind the store
properly, rates of descent don’t exceed that either.
Except in busy airspace, I normally hand-fly until
after leveling off at cruise. If I get overtasked dealing
with weather or ATC, I will use the GPSS or heading
function to relieve workload. During descent, I usually
leave it in a lateral mode until intercepting the glideslope. From there, I’m on my own because the simple
autopilot sometimes gets behind the airplane during
approaches close in to the airport, especially on an ILS.
As with everything else in life, autopilot use is about
balance. Manage the technology to enhance the safety
of flight while maintaining a level of proficiency that
assures that you can pilot the airplane in a way that
rivals George.
AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2013

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