How Safe Is Single-Pilot IFR?
(continued) The state of single-pilot IFR flying has undergone great changes in recent years, in two steps. GPS navigators revolutionized the way we navigate through flight plans and fly approaches. Though some would disagree, GPS navigators, properly used, actually reduced total pilot workload.
The second step is the fully integrated glass cockpit flight management system. It is basically the same thing that crews of jets use. Does it reduce workload and simplify tasks for the single pilot? I don't think that is a given. With the systems that are in virtually all new-manufactured airplanes and that are showing up in many existing airplanes, pilot training, currency and understanding requirements ratchet up by a lot of notches. There is a big, huge difference in professional crews who fly often operating this equipment and single pilots who fly once a month using it.
The complexity of the equipment is magnified by software changes. I have flown a lot of different software versions in the Garmin G1000 systems and enough things change from one version to another to create cockpit confusion. To say that they shouldn't change the software is to say they shouldn't improve the product for us over time. But some of the software changes that I have seen are not, in my opinion, improvements. They are sometimes things that look like they were done just because they could be done, not because they were needed.
Safety has never been anything you can buy in general aviation, and like everything else, there is no automatic reduction in risk in glass cockpit airplanes. That is strictly pilot driven. One bright ray of hope, though, is the "level" button in the Garmin/Cirrus system. Press it and the autopilot either reverts to a wings level, altitude hold mode or it comes on with that function. Jet fighters have had such a panic button for a long time.
I'll go out on a limb and say that the most common use of this button will be when the pilot screws up the programming of the flight control system and becomes overwhelmed with confusion about what was done and what is happening. Punch the button and start over.
That is important because as we go forward with single-pilot IFR we have to acknowledge that complexity has reached the point where we have to have a de facto crew of two: the pilot and the autopilot. The pilot has to learn to fly the airplane through the autopilot. With the new cockpits there is no way a pilot can pick and choose what functions to use. You have to understand it all and use it all.
Another thing to consider when comparing the workload with the new stuff with the old is that everything was direct back in the good old days. Each knob did one thing. Nothing was hidden from view. Compare that with a fully integrated cockpit and realize that we pay a price for all that capability and information. Nothing is as straightforward as a knurled knob that does one thing. I don't think you could say that the new equipment is as user friendly as the old. It is a lot more informative.
Is there a big difference between a paper and an electronic chart? Yes and no. The fact that the electronic version positions the airplane on the chart for you brings a new and great level of situational awareness. Yet there are legions of pilots who flew for years with paper charts and never misplaced themselves on the chart. There are also some, not around anymore, who didn't envision the correct location.
Over the years, one of the frequent single-pilot IFR problems has been with loss of aircraft control. The wider use of autopilots should help with this. When up to here in alligators, pilots without that magic button to press can press their own button and put the autopilot where it will command wings level while they think for a minute.
Most of the other IFR problems come from the interface between the pilot, the equipment and the weather. Here the single-pilot IFR person needs to have a continuous reality check before and during a flight.
If there is one overused word that has great importance it is "margins." That's another way of suggesting that you cut yourself some slack, as we used to say.
A pilot who always flies with margins in mind can reduce or eliminate a lot of risks. Staying away from areas where you are not current and proficient means trouble stays farther away. For example, in recent years I have not flown much IFR at night. In fact, on December 12, 2001, flying from New Orleans to Hagerstown, Maryland, I flew the last hour of the trip after dark and ended with a non-precision approach in scuzzy weather. Nothing untoward happened (ask Tom Benenson -- he was along so it wasn't strictly single pilot) but descending through the clouds, in the dark, I must have made the decision that this was no longer a risk I was willing to take. Except for ending one VFR trip after dark and going flying to do the three night takeoffs and landings, I haven't flown at night since.
I don't think night IFR has to be risky but if you don't do it often and if, when you do it, you are aggressive about it, trouble is at hand.
Likewise, I long ago resolved never to try a second approach if one was missed because of weather. Also, where I used to fly approaches to airports where the weather was reported as below minimums, I quit doing that a while back.
We have the freedom to do most anything that we want to do with our airplanes and that is something to cherish and protect. The lowest risk form of flying comes on clear calm days, when you are flying a simple airplane and don't do anything silly. Add complexity and the available risks multiply. The challenge is ours alone and that is pretty neat.
Discuss this article in our forums
| 
Copyright @ 2009 Bonnier Corp. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
