AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - August 2017 - T-14

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want our procedures to be designed to
reduce the pilot's workload to the greatest extent possible.
A perfect example of a strategy working toward this second goal is regular
use of the autopilot-considered so critical for single-pilot flight that the FAA
mandates no jet can be flown single
pilot unless the autopilot is operative.
The concern from the FAA is not that
hand-flying the aircraft is such a difficult task that the pilot won't be able to
perform secondary jobs such as talking on the radio, running checklists, et
cetera. Rather, the FAA recognizes that
when tasked with hand-flying an aircraft,
the pilot's situational awareness is often
greatly compromised.

operations in IMC close to terrain or
traffic. There certainly is a time for
hand-flying with the goal of maintaining
proficiency, but it should be performed
when the external hazards and internal
workload can be honestly assessed as low.
Of course the autopilot can only do
what it is directed to, and there is another
opportunity for a solo pilot to greatly
reduce workload, and even create a sort
of internal redundancy-proper mastery
and memorization of some of the critical profiles the pilot may need to execute.
A pilot faced with an engine failure during takeoff, or an unexpected go-around,
will be required to execute a specific and
complex set of steps to maintain proper
airspeed and flight path, while simul-

First, we want to create as much redundancy of
procedure as possible, to catch the inevitable errors any
human will make. Second, we want our procedures to be
designed to reduce the pilot's workload to the greatest
extent possible, to reduce the chance of an error
occurring in the first place.

So much of the pilot's attention must
be directed to maintaining altitude, heading, and airspeed that very little is left
for a higher-level review that looks out
one, two, or better yet, five minutes into
the future to extrapolate both where the
airplane will be and what hazards may
be present then. By utilizing the autopilot, the pilot in command essentially
stops being as much only a pilot, and is
better able to function as an aircraft commander-maintaining a high enough level
of situational awareness as to be constantly error checking and planning.
Thus, use of the autopilot is strongly
encouraged for any single-pilot operations where the workload or threat is
elevated: terminal arrivals, departures,
and approaches with multiple course
and altitude changes, for example, or
T-14 | AOPA PILOT August 2017

taneously coping with the surprise of
the unplanned event. The startle factor
itself can eat up a large chunk of "mental
bandwidth," so much so that consciously
thinking through a go-around procedure,
for example, may not be possible.
By disciplined review and chair-flying
of these procedures, the pilot can imprint
them to the extent that conscious recall is
not needed. In particular by combining a
verbal enunciation of the steps ("positive
rate, gear up, select nav") with physical
movements mimicking those needed
during the event (optimally in the actual
cockpit of the aircraft or in front of a
cockpit poster), the pilot creates mental redundancy by utilizing two different
parts of the brain: one verbally focused,
and one movement focused. During a
high-workload event the verbal parts of
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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - August 2017

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