Mastering Short-Haul IFR

Picture one of those ubiquitous human factors graphs that show pilot workload during a flight. The x-axis shows startup through shutdown. On the y axis, is a scale of pilot workload: relatively low during taxi, a significant spike during takeoff and departure, a long, low flat line for cruise, an even bigger spike for approach and landing and an anti-climactic taper-off for taxi in. At the top of the graph, theres an additional line that starts high and arcs slowly down representing the pilots capabilities.

Key Takeaways:

• Short-haul IFR flights present a highly condensed workload with significant spikes during departure and arrival, offering minimal low-workload "cruise" time for preparation, thus heavily taxing pilot capabilities.
• The core solution is extensive preparation, aiming to "re-landscape" the flight's workload graph by proactively shifting tasks from high-workload phases to earlier, lower-workload periods like pre-flight and pre-taxi.
• Effective preparation involves meticulous planning of routes, frequencies, and weather for both departure and arrival, maintaining an organized cockpit with pre-arranged charts and cheat sheets, and setting up navigation and communication aids well in advance.
• This is a continuous philosophy of addressing "little things" ahead of time, ensuring pilots can focus solely on essential tasks such as flying, tuning, talking, and configuring the aircraft during critical, high-workload moments.

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