Rumor mill at XL is T-1 leadership is pushing for us to hand fly everything below 10,000'.........

Automation schould come in handy on days like these-

The Chinese might need a refresher on auto- land.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/world/asia/china-smog-aviaition/index.html?sr=fb121313chinablindlanding1p

Edited December 14, 201311 yr by clouseau

Automation schould come in handy on days like these-

The Chinese might need a refresher on auto- land.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/world/asia/china-smog-aviaition/index.html?sr=fb121313chinablindlanding1p

I would be scared shitless riding in the back of a Chinese airliner during a cat 2/3 landing. Also during the subsequent taxi.

As GHeart would say: "FTFA! Fly the fucking airplane, Lieutenant!"

Rumor mill at XL is T-1 leadership is pushing for us to hand fly everything below 10,000'.........

As it should. Coupled approaches should be a special syllabus item just to see how to set them up/how they work in case of emergency.

At END on the T-1 side the only approaches the students can fly with the AP engaged are GPS. (Full up GPS, not overlay stuff.) Every other instrument approach (ILS, LOC, VOR, etc.) is hand flown from the base leg or prior to intercepting final. We also don't let them use all of the FMS functions. For example, we make them calculate descent gradients as opposed to letting them simply fix the altitudes in the flight plan to get a Top Of Descent point on the MFD.

At END in the T-38 students use the autopilot and FMS....never.

Rumor mill at XL is T-1 leadership is pushing for us to hand fly everything below 10,000'.........

I don't see a problem with that. It is PILOT training.

https://fearoflanding.com/accidents/sequence-of-events-in-the-cockpit-on-asiana-flight-214/

Link to an article with the NTSB video regarding the asiana crash. Poor/improper use of automation to blame, not too surprising.

I'm at CBM and it's been a battle I've been fighting for a while now to reduce student reliance on MFD. You'd be surprised how many regional pilots are great with that MFD up, but the second you take it away and force them to use the bearing pointer and DME for SA, they get lost as a goose in a hurricane. Normal UPT students with no prior time are even more behind. The pulling of fix-to-fix required training has not helped this in the slightest. Just an opinion of a legacy herk guy that had no such tools. I can use them just fine, but function just fine without them.

Fix to fix's aren't even authorized in the NAS anymore. Good riddance.

It's not about the fix-to-fix, it's about being able to interpret the information from the instruments.

It's not about the fix-to-fix, it's about being able to interpret the information from the instruments.

Snore...

Agree with the need for pilots to be able to do that pilot shit and hand-fly the airplane proficiently. However, guys these days need to be equally proficient with the automation. It's there for a reason and has the potential to improve safety and reduce fatigue during normal ops. The goal should be to never have to ask "What's it doing now?". You should know exactly what the automation is going to do before you push the button.

Agree with the need for pilots to be able to do that pilot shit and hand-fly the airplane proficiently. However, guys these days need to be equally proficient with the automation. It's there for a reason and has the potential to improve safety and reduce fatigue during normal ops. The goal should be to never have to ask "What's it doing now?". You should know exactly what the automation is going to do before you push the button.

IMHO Automation should be introduced briefly in UPT and be formally taught during IQT of the MWS and seasoning at the first assignment. It's a short year to learn the basics- building a solid foundation of hand flying and a strong ability to interpret raw instrumentation should be the primary objective of the UPT cadre.

Thank you TheGuardGuy, that's exactly what I was saying.

Good stuff! How often do you dim down the FMS/CRT and give the other guy a WAC/Sectional and ash "Where are we"?

Haven't tried that. Heck these days I'm usually in shock if they have a chart out that they can reach.

Haven't tried that. Heck these days I'm usually in shock if they have a chart out that they can reach.

Or even read...

Agree with the need for pilots to be able to do that pilot shit and hand-fly the airplane proficiently. However, guys these days need to be equally proficient with the automation. It's there for a reason and has the potential to improve safety and reduce fatigue during normal ops. The goal should be to never have to ask "What's it doing now?". You should know exactly what the automation is going to do before you push the button.

I don't know man. The airplane I fly has 3 autopilot options. Altitude hold, altitude and heading hold, and the third option, and they don't do much to make me a better or safer pilot, except maybe to help out when I need to get some snacks from my pocket.

People fly different planes, steve...I'm guessing you don't have 23 hr days flying across the pond after getting alerting 16 hours into bravo. Add in an A/R and an arrival into busy airspace, and correct manipulation of the automation will ultimately reduce workload for the pilots.

Great. Get proficient with it in 6-9 minutes and call it good. Other setups will take longer.

Great. Get proficient with it in 6-9 minutes and call it good. Other setups will take longer.

So your box takes longer to get ready?