George Doesn’t know

No, we’re not going to beat you up for relying on your GPS. Instead, our concern is overreliance on your autopilot. But not for reasons you might think.

Mark Kolber

Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Over-reliance on modern autopilots is causing pilots to lose critical "anticipation" skills, making them prone to errors like busting altitudes and getting "behind the airplane."
To counter this, pilots should adopt "implementation intentions," a systematic self-talk approach where they mentally rehearse specific actions for anticipated situations (e.g., "when this happens, I will do X").
This proactive mental preparation, covering lateral, vertical, configuration, and avionics, helps pilots stay ahead, reduce errors, manage workload (especially during critical phases like a missed approach), and build confidence.
Consistent practice of anticipating "what's next" and "what to do there" allows these crucial behaviors to become unconscious habits, leading to smoother, more proficient, and safer flying.

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Relax. This isn’t another “children of the magenta” rant. It’ll be something a little different. I absolutely love GPS, modern glass, and modern autopilots! Give me a modern autopilot capable of descending via a STAR that terminates at an approach transition, then flying the IAP to minimums, as well as the missed with me doing little more than hitting buttons, monitoring progress, and managing power, flaps and gear. Yeah baby!

But, as a CFII doing avionics transitions, IFR checkouts, IPCs, and recurrent IFR training, I’m seeing a consistent issue among pilots who “let George do it” too much. It’s so pervasive that I have been hearing from DPEs that they are getting instrument rating applicants who are already autopilot dependent and show the same symptoms.