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Flight School: Teaching Automation

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Autopilots are valuable modern tools that enhance a pilot's situational awareness, multitasking ability, and overall risk management by automating routine flying tasks.
  • There is a consensus that fundamental hands-on flying skills must be fully developed and automatic before introducing autopilots into training.
  • Autopilot integration should be progressive: beginning around cross-country training for private pilots, and gradually expanding through instrument training to assist in high-workload phases, ultimately aiming for full utilization without substituting core piloting skills.
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At what point should an autopilot be introduced into flight training?

Martha King has helped make aviation knowledge more accessible to pilots worldwide by combining elegant technology with clear, fun teaching. Martha holds every category and class of FAA rating on her pilot certificate, and every flight and ground instructor certificate. Her company, King Schools, also provides the curricula for more than 275 Cessna Pilot Centers. She says:

Pia Bergqvist

Pia Bergqvist joined FLYING in December 2010. A passionate aviator, Pia started flying in 1999 and quickly obtained her single- and multi-engine commercial, instrument and instructor ratings. After a decade of working in general aviation, Pia has accumulated almost 3,000 hours of flight time in nearly 40 different types of aircraft.

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